SAFE -- Sentinel-1 SAFE XML Product

Driver short name

SAFE

Driver built-in by default

This driver is built-in by default

Driver for Sentinel products. Currently supports only Sentinel-1 SAR products. See also the GDAL Sentinel-2 driver

SENTINEL data products are distributed using a SENTINEL-specific variation of the Standard Archive Format for Europe (SAFE) format specification. The SAFE format has been designed to act as a common format for archiving and conveying data within ESA Earth Observation archiving facilities.

The SAFE driver will be used if the manifest.safe or the containing directory is selected, and it can treat all the imagery as one consistent dataset.

The SAFE driver also reads geolocation grid points from the metadata and represents them as GCPs on the dataset.

ESA will be distributing other satellite datasets in this format; however, at this time this driver only supports specific Sentinel-1 SAR products. All other will be ignored, or result in various runtime errors.

Driver capabilities

Supports Georeferencing

This driver supports georeferencing

Supports VirtualIO

This driver supports virtual I/O operations (/vsimem/, etc.)

Multiple measurements

If the product contains multiple measurements (for example multiple polarizations), each one is available as a raster band - if the swath is the same. When the swath is the same, the geographic area is the same.

If the product contains multiple swaths and multiple polarizations, the driver shows the first swath by default. To access other swaths, the user must select a specific subdataset.

The syntax of subdataset naming and their content has been significantly change in GDAL 3.4.

Examples

Opening the Sentinel-1 product:

$ gdalinfo S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE/manifest.safe

Driver: SAFE/Sentinel-1 SAR SAFE Product
Files: S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE/manifest.safe
       S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE/measurement/s1a-iw-grd-vh-20150705t064241-20150705t064306-006672-008ea0-002.tiff
       S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE/measurement/s1a-iw-grd-vv-20150705t064241-20150705t064306-006672-008ea0-001.tiff
Size is 256, 167
Coordinate System is `'
GCP Projection =
GEOGCS["WGS 84",
    DATUM["WGS_1984",
        SPHEROID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
            AUTHORITY["EPSG","7030"]],
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","6326"]],
    PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],
    UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","9122"]],
    AUTHORITY["EPSG","4326"]]
GCP[  0]: Id=1, Info=
          (0,0) -> (-8.03500070209827,39.6332161725022,141.853266630322)
Metadata:
  ACQUISITION_START_TIME=2015-07-05T06:42:41.504840
  ACQUISITION_STOP_TIME=2015-07-05T06:43:06.503530
  BEAM_MODE=IW
  BEAM_SWATH=IW
  FACILITY_IDENTIFIER=UPA_
  LINE_SPACING=1.000655e+01
  MISSION_ID=S1A
  MODE=IW
  ORBIT_DIRECTION=DESCENDING
  ORBIT_NUMBER=6672
  PIXEL_SPACING=1.000000e+01
  PRODUCT_TYPE=GRD
  SATELLITE_IDENTIFIER=SENTINEL-1
  SENSOR_IDENTIFIER=SAR
  SWATH=IW
Subdatasets:
  SUBDATASET_1_NAME=SENTINEL1_DS:S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE:IW_VH
  SUBDATASET_1_DESC=Single band with IW swath and VH polarization
  SUBDATASET_2_NAME=SENTINEL1_DS:S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE:IW_VV
  SUBDATASET_2_DESC=Single band with IW swath and VV polarization
  SUBDATASET_3_NAME=SENTINEL1_DS:S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE:IW
  SUBDATASET_3_DESC=IW swath with all polarizations as bands
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left  (    0.0,    0.0)
Lower Left  (    0.0,  167.0)
Upper Right (  256.0,    0.0)
Lower Right (  256.0,  167.0)
Center      (  128.0,   83.5)
Band 1 Block=256x16 Type=UInt16, ColorInterp=Undefined
  Metadata:
    POLARISATION=VH
    SWATH=IW
Band 2 Block=256x16 Type=UInt16, ColorInterp=Undefined
  Metadata:
    POLARISATION=VV
    SWATH=IW

It's not mandatory to open manifest.safe, just pass the folder name:

$ gdalinfo S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE

Opening a single measurement (for example IW/VH):

$ gdalinfo SENTINEL1_DS:S1A_IW_GRDH_1SDV_20150705T064241_20150705T064306_006672_008EA0_24EE.SAFE:IW_VV

or starting with GDAL 3.4

$ gdalinfo SENTINEL1_CALIB:UNCALIB:test.SAFE:IW_VV:AMPLITUDE

Data Calibration

Starting with GDAL 3.4, calibration is applied for SIGMA0, BETA0 and GAMMA calibration subdataset