{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T11:47:55Z","timestamp":1776426475089,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,25]],"date-time":"2016-10-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1477353600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sentinel-2A MSI is the Landsat-like spatial resolution (10\u201360 m) super-spectral instrument of the European Space Agency (ESA), aimed at additional data continuity for global land surface monitoring with Landsat and Satellite Pour l\u2019Observation de la Terre (SPOT) missions. Several simulation studies have been conducted in the last several years to show the potential of Sentinel-2A MSI (MultiSpectral Instrument). Now that real data are available, the first confirmations of this potential and comparisons with other operational systems are being made. This paper aims at evaluating Sentinel-2A MSI band ratio products that are relevant for geological remote sensing. A Sentinel-2A MSI and a Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) scene were processed from their respective levels L1C and L1T to level L2A (bottom of atmosphere reflectance). Then, three band ratios originally defined for Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) were used to map mineralogy associated with a hydrothermal alteration system in southeast Spain. The results obtained with Sentinel-2A MSI were compared with those obtained with Landsat 8 OLI and a simulated Sentinel-2A MSI dataset that was used before actual data were released. Results show that the images appear similar to the human eye having a correlation of approximately 0.8 and higher, but that the associated data ranges differ significantly. The resulting products are also compared to a published geologic map of the study area, and it is shown that the resulting maps correspond with the conceptual geologic model of the epithermal deposit.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8110883","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,25]],"date-time":"2016-10-25T10:28:49Z","timestamp":1477391329000},"page":"883","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":157,"title":["Sentinel-2A MSI and Landsat 8 OLI Provide Data Continuity for Geological Remote Sensing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2871-3913","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harald","family":"Van der Werff","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands"}]},{"given":"Freek","family":"Van der Meer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.07.023","article-title":"ESA\u2019s sentinel missions in support of Earth system science","volume":"120","author":"Berger","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.11.026","article-title":"Sentinel-2: ESA\u2019s optical high-resolution mission for GMES operational services","volume":"120","author":"Drusch","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"520","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8060520","article-title":"An automated approach for sub-pixel registration of Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multi Spectral Instrument (MSI) imagery","volume":"8","author":"Yan","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"European Space Agency ESA Sentinel-2 Delivers First Images. Available online: http:\/\/www.esa.int\/Our_Activities\/Observing_the_Earth\/Copernicus\/Sentinel-2\/Sentinel-2_delivers_first_images."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.09.026","article-title":"Sentinels for science: Potential of Sentinel-1, -2 and -3 missions for scientific observations of ocean, cryosphere, and land","volume":"120","author":"Rott","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"208","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.10.035","article-title":"Spatially constrained inversion of radiative transfer models for improved LAI mapping from future Sentinel-2 imagery","volume":"120","author":"Atzberger","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"561","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4030561","article-title":"Optimal exploitation of the Sentinel-2 spectral capabilities for crop leaf area index mapping","volume":"4","author":"Richter","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.5589\/m09-010","article-title":"Experimental assessment of the Sentinel-2 band setting for RTM-based LAI retrieval of sugar beet and maize","volume":"35","author":"Richter","year":"2009","journal-title":"Can. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"344","article-title":"Remote estimation of crop and grass chlorophyll and nitrogen content using red-edge bands on Sentinel-2 and -3","volume":"23","author":"Clevers","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinform."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2013.04.007","article-title":"Evaluating the capabilities of Sentinel-2 for quantitative estimation of biophysical variables in vegetation","volume":"82","author":"Frampton","year":"2013","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.11.002","article-title":"Machine learning regression algorithms for biophysical parameter retrieval: Opportunities for Sentinel-2 and -3","volume":"118","author":"Verrelst","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eja.2012.12.001","article-title":"A red-edge spectral index for remote sensing estimation of green LAI over agroecosystems","volume":"46","author":"Delegido","year":"2013","journal-title":"Eur. J. Agron."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2013.06.004","article-title":"Vegetation index suites as indicators of vegetation state in grassland and savanna: An Analysis with simulated SENTINEL 2 data for a North American transect","volume":"137","author":"Hill","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pce.2012.08.013","article-title":"A hydro-optical model for deriving water quality variables from satellite images (HydroSat): A case study of the Nile River demonstrating the future Sentinel-2 capabilities","volume":"50\u201352","author":"Salama","year":"2012","journal-title":"Phys. Chem. Earth"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.06.028","article-title":"Capability of the Sentinel 2 mission for tropical coral reef mapping and coral bleaching detection","volume":"120","author":"Hedley","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.03.022","article-title":"Potential of ESA\u2019s Sentinel-2 for geological applications","volume":"148","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"781","DOI":"10.1126\/science.211.4484.781","article-title":"Geologic remote-sensing","volume":"211","author":"Goetz","year":"1981","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"847","DOI":"10.1080\/014311600210326","article-title":"The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER): Data products for the high spatial resolution imager on NASA\u2019s Terra platform","volume":"21","author":"Abrams","year":"2000","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"692","DOI":"10.1109\/36.387584","article-title":"Simulated ASTER data for geologic studies","volume":"33","author":"Abrams","year":"1995","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1062","DOI":"10.1109\/36.700991","article-title":"Overview of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)","volume":"36","author":"Yamaguchi","year":"1998","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Cudahy, T., and Hewson, R. (2002, January 5\u20137). ASTER geological case histories: Porphyry-skarn-epithermal, iron oxide Cu-Au and Broken Hill Pb-Zn-Ag. Proceedings of the Annual General Meeting of the Geological Remote Sensing Group (ASTER Unveiled), London, UK."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6790","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6086790","article-title":"Spaceborne mine waste mineralogy monitoring in South Africa, applications for modern push-broom missions: Hyperion\/OLI and EnMAP\/Sentinel-2","volume":"6","author":"Mielke","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12635","DOI":"10.3390\/rs71012635","article-title":"Sentinel-2 for mapping iron absorption feature parameters","volume":"7","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8030166","article-title":"First experience with Sentinel-2 data for crop and tree species classifications in central Europe","volume":"8","author":"Immitzer","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15361","DOI":"10.3390\/rs71115361","article-title":"Spectral unmixing of forest crown components at close range, airborne and simulated Sentinel-2 and EnMAP spectral imaging scale","volume":"7","author":"Clasen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14227","DOI":"10.3390\/rs71014227","article-title":"The potential of EnMAP and Sentinel-2 data for detecting drought stress phenomena in deciduous forest communities","volume":"7","author":"Dotzler","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4049","DOI":"10.1109\/JSTARS.2015.2400134","article-title":"Evaluation of chlorophyll-related vegetation indices using simulated Sentinel-2 data for estimation of crop fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation","volume":"8","author":"Dong","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2015.10.005","article-title":"Examining the potential of Sentinel-2 MSI spectral resolution in quantifying above ground biomass across different fertilizer treatments","volume":"110","author":"Sibanda","year":"2015","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8040354","article-title":"Water bodies\u2019 mapping from Sentinel-2 imagery with Modified Normalized Difference Water Index at 10-m spatial resolution produced by sharpening the SWIR band","volume":"8","author":"Du","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"640","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8080640","article-title":"First experiences in mapping lake water quality parameters with Sentinel-2 MSI imagery","volume":"8","author":"Toming","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22956","DOI":"10.3390\/s150922956","article-title":"Evaluating sentinel-2 for lakeshore habitat mapping based on airborne hyperspectral data","volume":"15","author":"Stratoulias","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S29","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00205247","article-title":"Mineralized and unmineralized calderas in Spain; Part II, Evolution of the Rodalquilar caldera complex and associated gold-alunite deposits","volume":"25","author":"Rytuba","year":"1990","journal-title":"Miner. Depos."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Kalinowski, A., and Oliver, S. (2004). ASTER Mineral Index Processing Manual, Geoscience Australia. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1016\/S0169-1368(99)00007-4","article-title":"Remote sensing for mineral exploration","volume":"14","author":"Sabins","year":"1999","journal-title":"Ore Geol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"795","DOI":"10.2113\/gsecongeo.90.4.795","article-title":"Geology, geochronology, fluid inclusions, and isotope geochemistry of the Rodalquilar gold alunite deposit, Spain","volume":"90","author":"Arribas","year":"1995","journal-title":"Econo. Geol. Bull. Soc. Econ. Geol."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"327","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160802282854","article-title":"Use of HyMap imaging spectrometer data to map mineralogy in the Rodalquilar caldera, southeast Spain","volume":"30","author":"Bedini","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1007\/s11004-008-9181-5","article-title":"Deriving optimal exploration target zones on mineral prospectivity maps","volume":"41","author":"Debba","year":"2009","journal-title":"Math. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2006.886424","article-title":"Rotation-variant template matching for supervised hyperspectral boundary detection","volume":"4","author":"Kalubandara","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"61","article-title":"Indicator kriging applied to absorption band analysis in hyperspectral imagery: A case study from the Rodalquilar epithermal gold mining area, SE Spain","volume":"8","year":"2006","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinform."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"European Space Agency Level-2A Prototype Processor for Atmosphericterrain and Cirrus Correction of Top-of-Atmosphere Level 1C Input Data. Available online: http:\/\/step.esa.int\/main\/third-party-plugins-2\/sen2cor\/."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2006.03.002","article-title":"Reflectance quantities in optical remote sensing\u2014Definitions and case studies","volume":"103","author":"Schaepman","year":"2006","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"European Space Agency GMES Sentinel-2 Mission Requirements Document. Available online: http:\/\/esamultimedia.esa.int\/docs\/GMES\/Sentinel-2_MRD.pdf."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"European Space Agency Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP). Available online: http:\/\/step.esa.int\/main\/toolboxes\/snap\/."},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Harris Geospatial IDL ENVI Software. Available online: http:\/\/www.harrisgeospatial.com\/."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2609","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160110115825","article-title":"Geo-atmospheric processing of airborne imaging spectrometry data. Part 1: Parametric orthorectification","volume":"23","author":"Schlapfer","year":"2002","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2631","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160110115834","article-title":"Geo-atmospheric processing of airborne imaging spectrometry data. Part 2: Atmospheric\/topographic correction","volume":"23","author":"Richter","year":"2002","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1336","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2012.2235447","article-title":"Experimental evaluation of Sentinel-2 spectral response functions for NDVI time-series continuity","volume":"51","author":"Gonsamo","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2688","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5062688","article-title":"Mineral mapping using simulated Worldview-3 short-wave-infrared imagery","volume":"5","author":"Kruse","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"Weather Underground Weather for Almeria. Available online: http:\/\/www.wunderground.com."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Arribas, A. (1993). Mapa Geologico del Distrito Minero de Rodalquilar, Almeria, Scale 1:25000, Instituto Tecnologico GeoMinero de Espana."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"Telespazio VEGA Deutschland GmbH Sentinel-2 MSI\u2014Level-2A Prototype Processor Installation and User Manual. Available online: http:\/\/step.esa.int\/thirdparties\/sen2cor\/2.2.1\/S2PAD-VEGA-SUM-0001-2.2.pdf."},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"DigitalGlobe Worldview\u20133. Available online: http:\/\/worldview3.digitalglobe.com\/."},{"key":"ref_53","unstructured":"AuScope Limited AuScope Discovery Portal. Available online: http:\/\/portal.auscope.org\/portal\/gmap.html."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/8\/11\/883\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:33:57Z","timestamp":1760211237000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/8\/11\/883"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,25]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,11]]}},"alternative-id":["rs8110883"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs8110883","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,25]]}}}