Super-Resolution of Sentinel-2 Satellite Images: A Comparison of Different Interpolation Methods for Spatial Knowledge Extraction

Abstract

The increasing availability of satellite data at different spatial resolutions offers new opportunities for environmental monitoring, highlighting the limitations of medium-resolution products for fine-scale territorial analysis. However, it also raises the need to enhance the resolution of low-quality imagery to enable more detailed spatial assessments. This study investigates the effectiveness of different super-resolution techniques applied to low-resolution (LR) multispectral Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to generate high-resolution (HR) data capable of supporting advanced knowledge extraction. Three main methodologies are compared: traditional bicubic interpolation, a generic Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach, and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model specifically designed for super-resolution tasks. Model performances are evaluated in terms of their ability to reconstruct fine spatial details, while the implications of these methods for subsequent visualization and environmental analysis are critically discussed. The evaluation protocol relies on RMSE, PSNR, SSIM, and spectral-faithfulness metrics (SAM, ERGAS), showing that the CNN consistently outperforms ANN and bicubic interpolation in reconstructing geometrically coherent structures. The results confirm that super-resolution improves the apparent spatial detail of existing spectral information, thus clarifying both the practical advantages and inherent limitations of learning-based super-resolution in Earth observation workflows.