ROSE-L is an upcoming European Copernicus satellite equipped with an advanced L-band SAR radar. Unlike traditional C-band SAR missions such as Sentinel-1, the L-band system uses a longer radar wavelength, which provides several important advantages for ocean and ice monitoring:

• Deeper sensing into surface structures, sea ice, and vegetation
• More stable performance under strong winds, sea foam, and rough weather
• Improved ability to track surface features such as wave patterns, swell propagation, and ocean surface currents

Complementarity with C-band data, enabling multi-frequency analysis for better accuracy and coverage

These properties make ROSE-L particularly valuable for observing the ocean surface in challenging conditions and detecting larger-scale ocean dynamics that can be harder to retrieve using C-band alone.

Transfer the measurement to useful knowledge
The RL2Ocean project develops the processing system that will transform ROSE-L’s L-band radar measurements into useful ocean products. The project is building algorithms and a dedicated

Level-2 Ocean Processor to generate:

• Surface wind
• Sea state and wave parameters
• Surface currents

Before ROSE-L is launched, RL2Ocean is testing its processing methods using data from existing SAR missions to ensure the system is ready once the satellite becomes operational.

RL2Ocean will ensure that future ROSE-L observations become valuable knowledge for research, marine operations, and sustainable ocean management.

Main photo – credit: Copernicus/ESA