Statistical Evaluation of Sentinel-3 OLCI Ocean Color Data Retrievals

Abstract

We employ a previously developed statistical method to evaluate the performance of the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) global ocean color data relying on the temporal stability of the retrievals. We analyze the normalized water-leaving reflectance ρ wN (λ) spectra generated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Multi-Sensor Level-1 to Level-2 (MSL12) ocean color data processing system from the OLCI measurements and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)-Instrument Processing Facility for OLCI Level-2 (IPF-OL-2) OLCI reflectance ρ wN (λ) spectra. The deviations in ρ wN (λ) spectra from temporally and spatially averaged baseline data are statistically evaluated corresponding to various parameters, including the solar-sensor geometry, various ancillary data (i.e., surface wind speed, sea-level atmospheric pressure, water vapor amount, and ozone concentration), and other related parameters. Our results show that, under most conditions, both NOAA-MSL12 and EUMETSAT-IPF-OL-2 data processing systems produce statistically consistent ocean color products in the open ocean with respect to all corresponding parameters analyzed but with some underestimates of ρ wN (λ) spectra by EUMETSAT retrievals in moderate sun glint conditions being the notable exception.