BackForwardInstrument:  OLCI  

Instrument details
Acronym OLCI
Full name Ocean and Land Colour Imager
Purpose Ocean colour, vegetation, aerosol, cloud properties
Short description 21 channels with positions and bandwidths selectable [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Evolution of MERIS on Envisat
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, 5 side-to-side telescopes, total swath 1270 km.  Off-nadir view to avoid sun glint
Resolution 300 m
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage in 2 days, in daylight
Mass 150 kg Power 122 W Data Rate 5 Mbps

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2016 to 2037
Last update: 2021-06-15
Detailed characteristics
Central wavelength Bandwidth SNR @ specified input spectral radiance

400 nm

10 nm 2188 @ 62.95 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

412.5 nm

10 nm 2061 @ 74.14 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

442.5 nm

10 nm 1811 @ 65.61 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

490 nm

10 nm 1541 @ 51.21 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

510 nm

10 nm 1488 @ 44.39 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

560 nm

10 nm 1280 @ 31.49 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

620 nm

10 nm 997 @ 21.14 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

665 nm

10 nm 883 @ 16.38 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

673.75 nm

7.5 nm 707 @ 15.70 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

681.25 nm

7.5 nm 745 @ 15.11 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

708.25 nm

10 nm 785 @ 12.73 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

753.75 nm

7.5 nm 605 @ 10.33 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

761.25 nm

2.5 nm 232 @ 6.09 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

764.375 nm

3.75 nm 305 @ 7.13 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

767.5 nm

2.5 nm 330 @ 7.58 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

778.75 nm

15 nm 812 @ 9.18 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

865 nm

20 nm 666 @ 6.17 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

885 nm

10 nm 395 @ 6.00 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

900 nm

10 nm 308 @ 4.73 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

940 nm

20 nm 203 @ 2.39 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1

1020 nm

40 nm 151 @ 3.86 W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • Moderate resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • Narrow-band or hyperspectral imagers
  • Narrow-band imager (for ocean colour)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Aerosol Optical Depth
  • Aerosol column burden
  • Biomass
  • Cloud cover
  • Cloud top height
  • Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)
  • Earth surface albedo
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)
  • Ocean chlorophyll concentration
  • Ocean suspended sediments concentration
  • Oil spill cover
  • Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Aerosol column burden*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol effective radius3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol mass mixing ratio3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol Optical Depth*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Aerosol type3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS (with narrow bandwidth) and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level aerosol
Biomass*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover*5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud top height*5 - marginalDaylight only.NIR channels to estimate the total-column O2 above the cloud top as measured around 760 nm
Cloud type5 - marginalDaylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Colour Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Downward short-wave irradiance at Earth surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Highly indirect.VIS and NIR channels
Earth surface albedo*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Coarse spatial resolution.. Daylight only.VIS channels
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Leaf Area Index (LAI)*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS and NIR channels
Ocean chlorophyll concentration *1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Ocean Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient (DAC)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Ocean suspended sediments concentration*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Many narrow-bandwidth VIS channels, suitable for more water types, in open ocean and coastal zone
Oil spill cover*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with narrow bandwidth
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)*3 - highCloud sensitive.VIS channels, range accurately sampled
Short-wave cloud reflectance5 - marginalNo specific limitation.VIS and NIR channels
Snow cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels including 760 nm for high-level ashes
Integrated Water Vapour (IWV)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.NIR channels in the bands of water vapour around 900 nm and 940 nm
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels