About
The project develops satellite data records for Ocean Colour ECV including radiance, chlorophyll, and optical properties
Summary
The Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative project aims to:
- Develop and validate algorithms to meet the Ocean Colour GCOS ECV requirements for consistent, stable, error-characterised global satellite data products from multi-sensor data archives.
- Produce and validate, within an R&D context, the most complete and consistent possible time series of multi-sensor global satellite data products for climate research and modelling.
- Optimise the impact of all ocean colour satellite missions on climate data records
- Generate complete specifications for an operational production system.
- Strengthen inter-disciplinary cooperation between international Earth observation, climate research and modelling communities, in pursuit of scientific excellence.
The Ocean Colour project has completed CCI+ phase 1 which started in April 2019, has recently released the v6.0 dataset to the international science community in 2022 following internal quality control and analysis. The team also produced regular updates (or Intermediate CDRs) on a three-monthly basis through the UK funded EO climate Information Service and currently the dataset extends to 31 December 2024.
OC CCI+ phase 1 was led by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (Science lead) (UK), with Brockmann Consult (Germany), Pixalytics (UK), HEREON (Germany), Joint Research Centre (EU), HYGEOS (France), CNR (Italy) and University of Lisbon (Portugal). The next phase is in negotiation.
Background
Ocean colour radiometry from space provides vital insights into the spectral variations of ocean reflectance and through analysis of ocean colour, researchers can study marine ecosystems.
Extracting accurate ocean colour data is complex due to atmospheric contamination and sensor calibration. Ensuring a consistent, long-term dataset requires integration of data from multiple satellite missions, a challenge that the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC CCI) has addressed since 2010.
OC CCI+ further enhances and extends the ocean colour data record, aligning with Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) requirements and supporting climate science through improved accuracy and accessibility. It maximises the use of European Earth Observation missions, such as MERIS and OLCI, to provide high-quality, climate-relevant ocean colour data, essential for understanding long-term oceanic and atmospheric interactions.