The SENTINEL-3 Calibration and Validation Approach
Rebhan, Helge¹; Seitz, Bernd¹; Goryl, Philippe²; Bonekamp, Hans^3
1ESA, NETHERLANDS; ²ESA, ITALY; ³Eumetsat, GERMANY

The payload and the mission objectives of Sentinel-3 have a strong heritage from Envisat, and to a lesser extent from CryoSat and VEGETATION on Spot-5. In the frame of the Envisat mission extensive Cal/Val activities have been defined and executed, and have evolved along the mission, for calibration and validation of L1 and L2 products. In order to ensure continuity of product contents and quality from Envisat, the Sentinel-3 Cal/Val strategy will fully exploit this heritage where applicable. Sentinel-3 is however an operational mission, with main objectives to achieve an operational environment monitoring (both over Land and Ocean). This imposes three main objectives on Cal/Val activities: a) to provide a comprehensive initial assessment of product validity and quality at the end of commissioning activities; b) to monitor the stability and the quality of the products throughout the operational phase of the mission; c) to continuously improve the quality of the products throughout the operational phase of the mission following the evolving user requirements.

This paper will present the scope of activities that will calibrate the on-board instruments and validate the data products generated operationally and disseminated by the PDGS centres. Further to that, this presentation will address the implementation of the planned activities during Satellite commissioning and Routine Cal/Val.