ee.Image.selfMask

  • The selfMask() method updates an image's mask using its own pixel values, where existing mask values of zero remain masked.

  • This effectively masks out areas where the image has a value of zero, making those pixels invalid.

  • The output image retains the original metadata and footprint.

  • selfMask() is commonly used with Boolean masks to isolate areas of interest based on specific pixel values.

 Updates an image's mask at all positions where the existing mask is not zero using the value of the image as the new mask value. The output image retains the metadata and footprint of the input image.

UsageReturns
Image.selfMask()Image
ArgumentTypeDetails
this: imageImageThe image to mask with itself.

Examples

Code Editor (JavaScript)

// A Sentinel-2 surface reflectance image.
var img = ee.Image('COPERNICUS/S2_SR/20210109T185751_20210109T185931_T10SEG');
var trueColorViz = {
  bands: ['B4', 'B3', 'B2'],
  min: 0,
  max: 2700,
  gamma: 1.3
};
print('Sentinel-2 image', img);
Map.setCenter(-122.36, 37.47, 10);
Map.addLayer(img, trueColorViz, 'Sentinel-2 image');

// Create a Boolean land mask from the SWIR1 band; water is value 0, land is 1.
var landMask = img.select('B11').gt(100);
print('Land mask', landMask);
Map.addLayer(landMask, {palette: ['blue', 'lightgreen']}, 'Land mask');

// Mask the land mask by itself; pixel values equal to 0 (water) become invalid.
var landMaskMasked = landMask.selfMask();
print('Land mask, masked', landMaskMasked);
Map.addLayer(landMaskMasked, {palette: ['gold']}, 'Land mask, masked');

Python setup

See the Python Environment page for information on the Python API and using geemap for interactive development.

import ee
import geemap.core as geemap

Colab (Python)

# A Sentinel-2 surface reflectance image.
img = ee.Image('COPERNICUS/S2_SR/20210109T185751_20210109T185931_T10SEG')
true_color_viz = {
    'bands': ['B4', 'B3', 'B2'],
    'min': 0,
    'max': 2700,
    'gamma': 1.3,
}
display('Sentinel-2 image', img)
m = geemap.Map()
m.set_center(-122.36, 37.47, 10)
m.add_layer(img, true_color_viz, 'Sentinel-2 image')

# Create a Boolean land mask from the SWIR1 band water is value 0, land is 1.
land_mask = img.select('B11').gt(100)
display('Land mask', land_mask)
m.add_layer(land_mask, {'palette': ['blue', 'lightgreen']}, 'Land mask')

# Mask the land mask by itself pixel values equal to 0 (water) become invalid.
land_mask_masked = land_mask.selfMask()
display('Land mask, masked', land_mask_masked)
m.add_layer(land_mask_masked, {'palette': ['gold']}, 'Land mask, masked')
m