Capability of the Sentinel 2 mission for tropical coral reef mapping and coral bleaching detection

► Simulated performance of Sentinel 2 in reef applications is better than Landsat ETM+. ► Enabling features are narrow bands, spatial resolution and additional 443 nm band. ► Sentinel 2 may be capable of bleaching detection by change analysis. ► Reef 'health' is still outside the capability of spacebourne multispectral sensors.