# Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI)
*sensor . products*

Ocean and land colour imaging instrument flown on Sentinel-3.

## Specifications
- **manufacturer**: thales-alenia-space
- **product status**: operational
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"passive-optical","measurement_principle":"passive","spec_disclosure":"undisclosed"}
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-16
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: thales-alenia-space
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","manufacturer":"thales-alenia-space","product_status":"operational","deployment_context":"orbital","description":"Ocean and land colour imaging instrument flown on Sentinel-3.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"passive-optical\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"spec_disclosure\":\"undisclosed\"}"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
The Ocean and Land Colour Instrument is a passive optical push-broom imaging radiometer carried by the Sentinel-3 series for ocean and land colour observation.[^sentiwiki-s3-mission][^nasa-laads-olci] It measures 21 spectral bands at 300 m resolution across all surfaces, with a 1270 km swath for wide-area marine and terrestrial coverage.[^sentiwiki-s3-mission][^esa-s3-facts] The operational band set is specified across 400-1020 nm; a broader 400-1200 nm instrument coverage statement is also associated with OLCI, so buyers comparing archives should check the exact band table used by each product feed.[^esa-s3-facts][^nasa-laads-olci] OLCI carries Envisat MERIS heritage and adds bands plus improved signal-to-noise and glint-handling characteristics for modern ocean-colour processing.[^sentiwiki-s3-mission][^nasa-laads-olci] Its demonstrated use includes ocean-colour water-leaving radiance retrieval on Sentinel-3B, making it relevant to chlorophyll, coastal water-quality and cross-mission continuity workflows where moderate-resolution visible/NIR radiometry is the controlling requirement.[^sentiwiki-s3-mission]

## Compositional position
- sentinel-3b (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI)
- sentinel-3a (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI)

## Sources
- [sentiwiki-s3-mission] | Copernicus SentiWiki Sentinel-3 mission | https://sentiwiki.copernicus.eu/web/s3-mission | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16
- [esa-s3-facts] | Sentinel-3 facts and figures, ESA | https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-3/Facts_and_figures | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16
- [nasa-laads-olci] | Copernicus Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI), NASA LAADS | https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/olci/ | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/olci
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)