Sensor · Spaceborne

SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer)

Missions → Sentinel-3A (Extended operations) , Sentinel-3B (Operational)

Dual-view scanning temperature radiometer on Sentinel-3, providing sea and land surface temperature measurements and fire radiative power products. The instrument combines VIS/SWIR channels at 0.5 km with thermal and fire channels at 1 km.

Sensor

SLSTR is the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer carried by the Sentinel-3 satellite series for sea surface temperature, land surface temperature, and fire radiative power observations ^[1]^[2]. It is a passive dual-view scanning radiometer with visible, shortwave infrared, midwave infrared, and thermal infrared channels spanning 0.555 to 12 um ^[1]. The instrument uses 0.5 km sampling for the VIS-SWIR channels and 1 km sampling for the IR and fire channels ^[1]^[2]. Its channel set is recorded as nine main spectral channels plus two dedicated fire channels, preserving the fire bands separately for thermal-anomaly workflows ^[1]^[2]. Operational coverage comparisons should account for both published swath values: 1470 km for the nadir-view swath and 1420 km for the S3A L1B product overview ^[1]^[2]. Leonardo, through Selex-Galileo heritage, held project responsibility and final integration responsibility for SLSTR on Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B ^[3]. SLSTR continues the ATSR and AATSR line with a wider swath and added cloud, aerosol, and fire monitoring channels ^[1].

Operator pricing

Pricing not publicly listed by operator

Supply chain position

carried by Sentinel-3A

carried by Sentinel-3B

Methods this sensor implements

Demonstrated

Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrievalvia Sentinel-3A
SLSTR products include land surface temperature, with thermal infrared channels used for temperature retrieval.
Thermal anomaly detectionvia Sentinel-3A
Sentinel-3 SLSTR has dedicated fire channels and operational Fire Radiative Power products.
Sea-surface temperature retrievalvia Sentinel-3B
SLSTR demonstrates sea-surface temperature retrieval on Sentinel-3B.
Multispectral optical imaging
[sentiwiki-slstr] Visible and shortwave-infrared channels at 0.5 km sampling within a 0.555 to 12 um channel set; edge covers its reflective channels only.
Thermal infrared imaging
[sentiwiki-slstr] Mid-wave and thermal infrared channels plus two dedicated fire channels at 1 km; edge covers those channels.

Capable, undemonstrated

None on record.

Topics this relates to

Building thermal performance Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)well suited

Irrigation monitoring Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)well suited

Sea surface temperature Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)well suited

Urban heat island Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)well suited

Vector-borne disease risk Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)well suited

Crop stress and yield Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)adequate

Drought Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)adequate

Harmful algal blooms Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)adequate

Permafrost and ground ice Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)adequate

Wildfire Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)adequate

Coastal water quality Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Marine primary production Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Mineral exploration Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Pasture and grazing Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Solar energy siting and monitoring Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Urban change Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Wind energy siting Land-surface temperature - emissivity retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Snow cover Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)well suited

Cloud properties Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Coastal erosion Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Crop-type mapping Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Deforestation Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Flooding Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Illegal construction Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Land cover change Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Terrain elevation Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)adequate

Crop phenology Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)marginal

Inland water Multispectral optical imaging(demonstrated)marginal

Ocean heat content Sea-surface temperature retrieval(demonstrated)marginal

Industrial emissions Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)well suited

Geology and geohazards Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)adequate

Weather nowcasting Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)adequate

Air quality Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

CO2 Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Disaster damage assessment Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Economic activity intelligence Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Illegal and unregulated fishing Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Oil spills Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Pipeline integrity Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Shipping emissions Thermal anomaly detection(demonstrated)marginal

Sources

[1]S3 SLSTR Instrument, Copernicus SentiWikiagency doc2026-06-14
[2]S3A SLSTR L1B product, NASA LAADS DAACagency doc2026-06-14
[3]The SLSTR sensor on the Sentinel-3 satellite, Leonardooperator engineering2026-06-14
[4]Copernicus Sentinel-3 SLSTR Near Real Time Fire Radiative Power, EUMETSATagency doc2026-06-14

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/slstr Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer). EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/slstr (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:products:sensor:slstr,
  title = {SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer)},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/slstr}
}