Worldwide avalanche detection

The Sentinel-1 constellation is able to cover all global land masses within 6 days using unique, repetitive satellite orbits. Since the Sentinel-1's fly in a near polar orbit, multiple orbits overlap especially at high northern and southern latitudes, which results in revisit frequencies of roughly 3 days in equatorial regions and 1 day at high latitudes (see figure below).

All snow-covered mountain regions are covered with the exception of the Transantarctic Mountains.

For avalanche monitoring purposes, the availability of ascending and descending orbit data is important. Only then all slope aspects can be monitored due to the side-looking geometry of the radar sensors on board of the Sentinel-1 satellites.

A detailed service prospectus can be downloaded here.

Worldwide avalanche detection - Examples

The following examples of avalanche detections depict selected cases of fatal avalanche accidents and periods of high avalanche activity worldwide. Click on the images for larger versions.