OLCI/SLSTR SYN L2 Algorithm and Products Overview

The Sentinel-3 SYNERGY (SYN) processing branch has been designed as a combination of the acquisition of the two optical instruments, the Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) and the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR), with the main objective to provide surface vegetation products similar to those obtained from the VEGETATION instrument on SPOT. Synergistic and collocated measurements from both OLCI and SLSTR are ingested in an aerosol retrieval module. Then for each 300m pixel, Aerosol optical thickness data and Surface directional reflectances are retrieved and outputted in S3 SYNERGY L2 products. A description of the whole processing chain from OLCI/SLSTR L1 products to SYN L2 ones will be provided followed by a detailed description of the SYN L2 products. Quality assessment of these products, performed by the S3 MPC consortium and using in situ comparisons with AERONET data and with PROBA-V data will be discussed. Finally, a third section will be dedicated to the development of a future global aerosol products and the possible evolutions of this SYNERGY processing branch. More details about the whole S3 algorithms and products can be found in the Sentinel 3 Handbook [1].