Analysis Ready Data

SPOT (Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre) satellites have provided medium to high-resolution data useful for various thematic applications since 1980s. SPOT 2 – 7 provide data of varying resolutions and spectral bands with irregular acquisition time steps (see Table 1). Therefore, the SPOT ARD provided by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) provide data that is standardized, harmonized, interoperable, radiometrically (BRDF corrected) and geometrically consistent and pre-processed to reduce the burden of data pre-processing to allow immediate analysis and efficient exploitation of the data. The ARD data products are :

• Pan-Sharpened Nadir BRDF-adjusted reflectance (NBAR) product: This product consists of three spatially-enhanced (pansharpened) bands, i.e., a combination (or fusion) of Panchromatic band and Multispectral bands. This is suitable for qualitative analysis and object-based analysis of structures such as buildings.
• Multi-spectral Nadir BRDF-adjusted reflectance (NBAR) product: This product consists of SPOT multispectral which have been corrected for Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) based on a MODIS BRDF product (MCD43A1, https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mcd43a1v006/)
• Panchromatic band: This product is provided at high resolution than the multispectral bands because of its broad bandwidth (i.e., more than hundred nanometers) which enables it to hold a high signal-noise ratio.
• Spectral classification: This product consist of a broad classification of features such as vegetation, clouds, and can be used to mask the same on the images.