Validation of the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (OTCI): Synergetic Exploitation of the Sentinel-2 Missions

Luke A. Brown, Jadunandan Dash, Antonio L. Lidón, Ernesto López-Baeza, Steffen Dransfeld

Abstract: Continuity to the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) will be provided by the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI), and to ensure its utility in a wide range of operational applications, validation efforts are required. In the past, these activities have been constrained by the need for costly airborne hyperspectral data acquisition, but the Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) now offers a promising alternative. In this paper, we explore the synergetic use of Sentinel-2 MSI data for validation of the Sentinel-3 OLCI Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (OTCI) over the Valencia Anchor Station, a large agricultural site in the Valencian Community, Spain. High retrieval accuracy (RMSE = 0.20 g m-2) was obtained by applying machine learning techniques to Sentinel-2 MSI data, highlighting the valuable information it can provide when used in synergy with Sentinel-3 OLCI data for land product validation.