The aerosol layer height (ALH) is an important parameter that characterizes aerosol interaction with the environment. An estimation of the vertical distribution of aerosol is necessary for studies of those interactions, their effect on radiance and for aerosol transport models. ALH can be retrieved from satellite-based radiance measurements within the oxygen absorption band between 760 and 770 nm ($O_2$A band). The oxygen absorption is reduced when light is scattered by an elevated aerosol layer. The Ocean and Land Colour Imager (OLCI) has three bands within the oxygen absorption band. We show a congruent sensitivity study with respect to ALH for dust and smoke cases over oceans. Furthermore, we developed a retrieval of the ALH for those cases and an uncertainty estimation by applying linear uncertainty propagation and a bootstrap method. The sensitivity study and the uncertainty estimation are based on radiative transfer simulations. The impact of ALH, aerosol optical thickness (AOT), the surface roughness (wind speed) and the central wavelength on the top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance is discussed. The OLCI bands are sufficiently sensitive to ALH for cases with AOTs larger than 0.5 under the assumption of a known aerosol type. With an accurate spectral characterization of the OLCI $O_2$A bands better than 0.1 nm, ALH can be retrieved with an uncertainty of a few hundred meters. The retrieval of ALH was applied successfully on an OLCI dust and smoke scene. The found ALH is similar to parallel measurements by the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). OLCI’s high spatial resolution and coverage allow a detailed overview of the vertical aerosol distribution over oceans.

During the tandem phase of Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B in summer 2018 the Ocean and Land Colour Imager (OLCI) mounted on the Sentinel-3B satellite was reprogrammed to mimics ESA's eighth Earth Explorer, the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX). The OLCI in FLEX configuration (OLCI-FLEX) had 45 spectral bands between 500 and 792 nm. The new data set with high-spectral-resolution measurements (bandwidth: 1.7–3.7 nm) serves as preparation for the FLEX mission. Spatially co-registered measurements of both instruments are used for the atmospheric correction and the retrieval of surface parameters, e.g. the fluorescence or the leaf area index. For such combined products, it is essential that both instruments are radiometrically consistent. We developed a transfer function to compare radiance measurements from different optical sensors and to monitor their consistency. In the presented study, the transfer function shifts information gained from high-resolution “FLEX-mode” settings to information convolved with the spectral response of the normal (lower) spectral resolution of the OLCI sensor. The resulting reconstructed low-resolution radiance is representative of the high-resolution data (OLCI-FLEX), and it can be compared with the measured low-resolution radiance (OLCI-A measurements). This difference is used to quantify systematic differences between the instruments. Applying the transfer function, we could show that OLCI-A is about 2 % brighter than OLCI-FLEX for most bands of the OLCI-FLEX spectral domain. At the longer wavelengths (> 770 nm) OLCI-A is about 5 % darker. Sensitivity studies showed that the parameters affecting the quality of the comparison of OLCI-A and OLCI-FLEX with the transfer function are mainly the surface reflectance and secondarily the aerosol composition. However, the aerosol composition can be simplified as long as it is treated consistently in all steps in the transfer function. Generally, the transfer function enables direct comparison of instruments with different spectral responses even with different observation geometries or different levels of observation. The method is sensitive to measurement biases and errors resulting from the processing. One application could be the quality control of the FLEX mission; presently it is also useful for the quality control of the OLCI-FLEX data.

During the tandem phase of Sentinel-3A and -3B in summer 2018 the Ocean and Land Color Imager (OLCI) mounted on Sentinel-3B satellite was reprogrammed to mimick ESA’s 8th Earth explorer the Fluorescence explorer (FLEX). OLCI in FLEX configuration (OLCI-FLEX) had 45 spectral bands between 500 nm and 792 nm. The new data set with high resolution measurements (band width: 1.7–3.7 nm) serves as preparation of the FLEX mission. Co-registered measurements of both instruments will be used to describe the atmosphere and the surface. For such combined products, it is essential that both instruments are radiometrically consistent. We developed a transfer function to compare radiance measurements from different optical sensors and to monitor their consistency. In the presented study, the transfer function shifts information gained from high-resolution "FLEX-mode" settings to information convolved with spectral response of the normal (lower) spectral resolution of the OLCI sensor. The resulting reconstructed low resolution radiance is representative for the high resolution data and it can be compared with the measured low resolution radiance. This difference is used to quantify systematic differences between the instruments. Applying the transfer function, we could show that OLCI-A is about 2 % brighter than OLCI-FLEX for most bands. At the longer wavelengths OLCI-A is about 5 % darker. Sensitivity studies showed that the parameters affecting the quality of the comparison of OLCI-A and OLCI-FLEX with the transfer function are mainly the surface reflectance and secondarily the aerosol composition. However, the aerosol composition can be simplified as long it is treated consistently in all steps in transfer function. Generally, the transfer function enables direct comparison of instruments with different spectral responses even with different observation geometries or different levels of observation. The method is sensitive to measurement biases and errors resulting from the processing. One application could be the quality control of the FLEX mission.

During the tandem phase of Sentinel-3A and -3B in summer 2018 the Ocean and Land Color Imager (OLCI) mounted on Sentinel-3B satellite was reprogrammed to mimick ESA’s 8th Earth explorer the Fluorescence explorer (FLEX). OLCI in FLEX configuration (OLCI-FLEX) had 45 spectral bands between 500 nm and 792 nm. The new data set with high resolution measurements (band width: 1.7–3.7 nm) serves as preparation of the FLEX mission. Co-registered measurements of both instruments will be used to describe the atmosphere and the surface. For such combined products, it is essential that both instruments are radiometrically consistent. We developed a transfer function to compare radiance measurements from different optical sensors and to monitor their consistency. In the presented study, the transfer function shifts information gained from high-resolution "FLEX-mode" settings to information convolved with spectral response of the normal (lower) spectral resolution of the OLCI sensor. The resulting reconstructed low resolution radiance is representative for the high resolution data and it can be compared with the measured low resolution radiance. This difference is used to quantify systematic differences between the instruments. Applying the transfer function, we could show that OLCI-A is about 2 % brighter than OLCI-FLEX for most bands. At the longer wavelengths OLCI-A is about 5 % darker. Sensitivity studies showed that the parameters affecting the quality of the comparison of OLCI-A and OLCI-FLEX with the transfer function are mainly the surface reflectance and secondarily the aerosol composition. However, the aerosol composition can be simplified as long it is treated consistently in all steps in transfer function. Generally, the transfer function enables direct comparison of instruments with different spectral responses even with different observation geometries or different levels of observation. The method is sensitive to measurement biases and errors resulting from the processing. One application could be the quality control of the FLEX mission.

During the tandem phase of Sentinel-3A and -3B in summer 2018 the Ocean and Land Color Imager (OLCI) mounted on Sentinel-3B satellite was reprogrammed to mimick ESA’s 8th Earth explorer the Fluorescence explorer (FLEX). OLCI in FLEX configuration (OLCI-FLEX) had 45 spectral bands between 500 nm and 792 nm. The new data set with high resolution measurements (band width: 1.7–3.7 nm) serves as preparation of the FLEX mission. Co-registered measurements of both instruments will be used to describe the atmosphere and the surface. For such combined products, it is essential that both instruments are radiometrically consistent. We developed a transfer function to compare radiance measurements from different optical sensors and to monitor their consistency. In the presented study, the transfer function shifts information gained from high-resolution "FLEX-mode" settings to information convolved with spectral response of the normal (lower) spectral resolution of the OLCI sensor. The resulting reconstructed low resolution radiance is representative for the high resolution data and it can be compared with the measured low resolution radiance. This difference is used to quantify systematic differences between the instruments. Applying the transfer function, we could show that OLCI-A is about 2 % brighter than OLCI-FLEX for most bands. At the longer wavelengths OLCI-A is about 5 % darker. Sensitivity studies showed that the parameters affecting the quality of the comparison of OLCI-A and OLCI-FLEX with the transfer function are mainly the surface reflectance and secondarily the aerosol composition. However, the aerosol composition can be simplified as long it is treated consistently in all steps in transfer function. Generally, the transfer function enables direct comparison of instruments with different spectral responses even with different observation geometries or different levels of observation. The method is sensitive to measurement biases and errors resulting from the processing. One application could be the quality control of the FLEX mission.