EO·Atlas
Optical-SAR data fusion
Combines optical reflectance and SAR backscatter to exploit complementary information; good for cloud-persistent monitoring, crop classification under cloud cover, and flood mapping in vegetated areas.
Feature-level or decision-level fusion; SAR provides all-weather geometric structure while optical provides spectral identity. Requires co-registration and calibration consistency across sensors. Wikipedia: Data fusion
- MONITORED AI
MONITORED AI cross-matches SAR vessel detections with AIS ship tracking data (position, MMSI, vessel name) to identify dark vessels -- this is optical (AIS position data layer) fused with SAR detections, producing matched and unmatched vessel lists with anomaly flags
- COSMIC-EYE Area Monitoring
- COSMIC-EYE Infrastructure Monitoring
- Copernicus EMS On Demand Mapping
- Terraprisma Satellite-Based Exploration Intelligence
- MetaSAR-C
MetaSAR-C C-band data compatible with optical-SAR fusion
Reconstructs dense time-series by blending high-frequency coarse-resolution and low-frequency fine-resolution observations; good for crop phenology tracking and cloud-gap filling.
Merges measurements from active (radar or scatterometer) and passive (radiometer) sensors that observe the same geophysical variable, combining their complementary error and sampling characteristics into a single harmonised record. The basis of long-term blended soil moisture climate data records.
Adjusts observations from different instruments onto a common radiometric and geometric reference so they can be used interchangeably in one time-series, correcting for differences in band response, view geometry, and calibration. The basis of harmonised multi-mission surface-reflectance products.
Integrates passive-microwave precipitation estimates with microwave-calibrated infrared observations and interpolation to produce near-global rainfall fields, exemplified by GPM IMERG.
- [1]Wikipedia: Data fusioncommunity2026-05-22
Edited from public sources. Last reviewed 2026-05-22 by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.
How to cite this page
Plain text
Optical-SAR data fusion. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-22. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/optical-sar-fusion (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:topics:methodologies:optical-sar-fusion,
title = {Optical-SAR data fusion},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-22. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/optical-sar-fusion}
}