The Second Edition of the EU Copernicus Programme FRM4SOC Training for in situ Ocean Colour Above-Water Radiometry towards Satellite Validation was held from 6 to 20 July 2025 in Venice and nearby Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower (AAOT) in the Adriatic Sea.

PhD students, postdocs, early career researchers, and experts of the Ocean Colour Community gathered for the second time in the frame of the FRM4SOC-2 project for a comprehensive training event on Ocean Colour In situ Above-Water Radiometric Measurements supported by the European Commission Copernicus Programme and NASA. 

Overview

The training offered a unique chance to learn from top experts in Ocean Colour (OC) radiometry about the complexity of the physical processes during field measurements, evaluate the impact of several uncertainty sources, and experience a live demonstration on how to apply measurement protocols and procedures correctly in the field.

Dealing with radiometers is not an easy task. Over time, the response of field optical radiometers to light may change significantly. Also, field radiometers are calibrated in laboratory-controlled conditions, which are very different from the conditions at sea. If not properly understood and assessed, these changes and effects can jeopardise the validity of measurement results. The training will explore these as well as other challenges in collecting high-quality measurement data at sea beyond statistical assessments of measurement results, and will provide standard tools to process raw outputs from radiometers to measurement results with metrologically sound uncertainty estimates for performing satellite matchups.

Event Context

The FRM4SOC-2 project (Fiducial Reference Measurements for Satellite Ocean Colour - Phase 2) funded by the European Commission as a part of the EU Copernicus Programme and implemented by EUMETSAT was launched in April 2021 with the aim of developing an operational and sustained network of radiometric in situ measurements of “FRM quality” (FRM: Fiducial Reference Measurement) as defined by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. The overarching goal of this initiative is to promote the adoption of FRM principles across the OC community towards enhancing satellite product validation and algorithm development. To achieve this goal, the project team focuses on several tasks:

  • Firstly, to provide practical guidelines and procedures for calibration, characterisation, use of radiometric instruments, best practice in the field, and how to derive the uncertainty budget of the acquired measurements.
  • Secondly, to provide tools to process radiometric field measurements with associated uncertainties and databases to store results of calibrations and field measurements.
  • Thirdly, to test what is being implemented, achieved by means of field inter-comparison experiments.
  • And finally, to broadcast the guidelines and tools to the OC community. This is mainly achieved by means of workshops and training events.

In this context, the FICE 2025 event is a summit of this project where not only training was offered but also in the context of an inter-comparison exercise where the most rigorous requirements were followed. The trainees did not only learn foundation principles of OC radiometry, perform test field measurements, process the measurements, and perform match-up exercises, but also witnessed an intercomparison exercise performed by OC experts.

Programme

Monday , July 7, 2025 

09:30-10:00 Tour-de-table of trainers 

10:00-11:00 Tour-de-table of attendees (I) 

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

11:30-12:00 Tour-de-table attendees (II) 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

16:00-16:30 Coffee break 

 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025 

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:45-15:15 The relevance of calibrations and characterisations (A. Bialek – NPL) 

15:45-16:15 Coffee-break 

16:15-16:45 Characterization of field radiometers (A. Bialek – NPL) 

 

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:00-15:30 Measurement procedure. TriOS : Export data acquired on jetty to '. mlb' (I) (K. Alikas – U. Tartu ) 

15:30-16:00 Coffee-break 

16:00-17:30 Measurement procedure. TriOS : Export data acquired on jetty to '. mlb' (II) (K. Alikas – U. Tartu )

 

Thursday, July 10, 2025 

08:00-18:00 Day visit to AAOT - shift 1 (V. Brando - CNR ISMAR, G. Zibordi - NASA, J.P. Portero - CNR ISMAR, K. Alikas - U. Tartu) 

***

09:00-11:00 PACE data - shift 1 (C. Poulin - NASA, D. Aurin - NASA, H. Evers-King - EUMETSAT, J. Gossn - EUMETSAT)

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

11:30-13:00 PACE data hands on - shift 1 (C. Poulin – NASA, D. Aurin – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT, J. Gossn – EUMETSAT) 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

16:00- 16:30 Coffee-break 

16:30- 18:00 OLCI data hands on - shift 1 (C. Poulin – NASA, D. Aurin – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT, J. Gossn – EUMETSAT) 

 

Friday, July 11, 2025 

08:00-18:00 Day visit to AAOT - shift 2 (V. Brando - CNR ISMAR, G. Zibordi - NASA, J. P. Portero – CNR ISMAR, K. Alikas – U. Tartu)

***

09:00-11:00 PACE data - shift 2 (C. Poulin - NASA, D. Aurin - NASA, H. Evers-King - EUMETSAT, J. Gossn - EUMETSAT)

11:00-11:30 Coffee—break 

11:30-13:00 PACE data hands on - shift 2 (C. Poulin – NASA, D. Aurin – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT, J. Gossn – EUMETSAT)

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

16:00- 16:30 Coffee-break 

16:30-18:00 OLCI data hands on - shift 2 (C. Poulin – NASA, D. Aurin – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT, J. Gossn – EUMETSAT) 

 

Saturday, July 12, 2025 

Weekend 

 

Sunday, July 13, 2025 

Weekend 

 

Monday, July 14, 2025 

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee-break 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

16:00- 16:30 Coffee-break 

16:30-18:00 ThoMaS hands-on (I) (D. Aurin – NASA, A. Ramsay – NPL) 

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025 

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:30-15:30 Open panel on publications, open source toolkits , data, DOIs, CRediT Taxonomy. (G. Zibordi – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT, J. Gossn - EUMETSAT, D. Aurin - NASA, V. Brando – CNR ISMAR)

15:30-16:00 Coffee-break 

16:00-18:00 HyperCP + ThoMaS hands-on (D. Aurin – NASA, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT) 

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025 

10:00-10:30 Coffee-break 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:00-14:30 Uncertainty in HyperCP due to instument characterisation (A. Bialek - NPL) 

14:30-14:45 Group assignments (J. Gossn – EUMETSAT, H. Evers-King – EUMETSAT) 

14:30-16:00 Work on group assignments (I)

16:00-16:30 Coffee-break 

16:30-18:00 Work on group assignments (II)

 

Thursday, July 17, 2025 

09:00-11:00 Work on group assignments (III)

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

12:30-13:00 Review of HyperCP exercises (D. Aurin – NASA, A. Ramsay - NPL) 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:30-18:00 Work on group assignments (IV)

 

Friday, July 18, 2025 

09:00-11:00 Work on group assignments (V)

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:00- 16:30 Work on group assignments (VI)

17:20-18:00 Vaporetti transfer 

18:00-21:00 Reception 

 

Saturday, July 19, 2025 

09:00-11:00 Presentation of results from groups (I , II , III) (trainees) 

11:00-11:30 Coffee-break 

12:30-12:45 Debrief of the field experience and challenges faced. Feedback survey (all) 

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

END 


Event dates: 6 - 20 July 2025

Venue: Venice International University, on the Island of San Servolo.

Hosted By: Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Italy

Contact: applications.trainings2025.frm4soc-2@TartuUlikool.onmicrosoft.com

The Executive Committee of the EU Copernicus Programme FRM4SOC-2025 training

  • Dr. Vittorio Brando - Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Italy
  • Dr. Riho Vendt - Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Estonia
  • Dr. Dirk A. Aurin - NASA
  • Dr. Carina Poulin - NASA
  • Dr. Ivona Cetinic - NASA
  • Dr. Juan Ignacio Gossn - EUMETSAT
  • Dr. Hayley Evers-King - EUMETSAT
  • Dr. Ewa Kwiatkowska - EUMETSAT