The Ocean and Land Colour Imager (OLCI) for the Sentinel 3 GMES Mission: status and first test results

Abstract

The Ocean and Land Colour Imager (OLCI) is a high accuracy visible spectral imager selected as optical payload for the Sentinel 3 component of the GMES mission, to provide climatological data continuity with the previous ESA Envisat missions. OLCI is based on the very successful opto-mechanical and imaging design of MERIS. The instrument is a quasi-autonomous, self contained, visible-NIR push-broom imaging spectrometer and incorporates significant improvements when compared to MERIS. The paper highlights the technical and programmatic challenges of the project, first results from the EM test activities and a projected flight model performance summary.