🎉 Welcome to our second OVL Newsletter!

It is time to bring news about the latest updates and improvements to our OVL web portal and SEAScope application tools in our quarterly newsletter.

We had a busy spring, with the OVL portal going at sea to enrich the student experience during the ESA Ocean training course on board the St. Lehmkuhl and demonstration during several events including the ESA Living Planet Symposium LPS.

We still managed to implement major improvements of the OVL portal and deploy a new SEAScope version.

1 - OVL Portal Updates

It is finally here, we have deployed the capability to get values under cursor when you hover over data

🌟 New Products Added

• Vardyn geostrophic surface current/SSH/SST

• Melodi wave drifters

• OpenMetBuoy OTC25 wave drifters

• SST MTG (lower noise level compared to SST MSG) see: https://seashot.odl.bzh/s/Didn45dlC_k

• SWOT Significant wave height and Wind speed from KaRIn https://odl.bzh/Ug_CQgfG

• SWOT Long swell spectra and swell partitions from KaRIn https://odl.bzh/g7BM0Jap

📈 Product Updates

• SWOT L3 V2 SSH/geostrophic current at 2km for April-June 2025 https://odl.bzh/2UukS-2a

• SWOT L3 250m July/December 2024 (highlighting long swell) https://odl.bzh/uxtF444r

• Note that https://swot-calval.oceandatalab.com and is now redirecting to https://aviso-calval.oceandatalab.com

🚀 New Functionalities and Improvements

• Show the geophysical value at the mouse pointer’s location

• Add wind barbs legend in "Display data" panel

• Many more bug fixes and usability improvements

2 - SEAScope: July 2025 Release

We have just released a new version of SEAScope available here https://seascope.oceandatalab.com/.

🚀 Improvements

• Consistent streamlines length and speed independently of the location on the globe
• Streamlines direction near the poles is fixed

For more information, you can have a look at the post on our website:
https://www.oceandatalab.com/new-version-of-seascope-available_2257568257

3 - Events:

🔱 OTC25 at sea

The second part of the ESA Ocean Training Course 2025 (OTC25) happened at sea during a six weeks voyage from Tromso to Nice, via Reykjavik, aboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl tall ship. We had a memorable time at sea during the ESA OTC25 voyage across very diverse ocean climate regions. 50 students and 40+ lecturers conducted a variety of oceanographic measurements and scientific activities.

The OVL tools have been used extensively to plan the route and the stations by looking at NRT satellite data. 29 stations were done where the team took samples and measured the physical and chemical properties of water at various depths up to 1200 meters. Using the OVL tools in near real time, Students could leverage satellite, in-situ and model data to explore the physics and biology of the ocean, enhancing their analytical skills and understanding of oceanographic data.

📖 Read more on ESA-EO web stories: Tall ship brings ESA ocean science training to Nice

📖 Detailed journal is available on ESA-EO campaign blog: https://blogs.esa.int/campaignearth/category/esa-ocean-training-course/

📹 Watch the highlight here: https://youtu.be/tNqR3BWoMWo

🔱 LPS25

OVL tools were presented at the Living Planet Symposium 2025 during the D.03.04 session and D.05.05 CDSE meeting. The presentations will be made available on ESA LPS website https://lps25.esa.int/. OVL tools were also demonstrated live on Tuesday and Wednesday at the EO arena.

4 - Check Out Our YouTube Channel

We’ve updated our channel with the presentation of the OVL tools that was done during the first part of the ESA ocean training course (OTC25 OVL tools)

📊 OVL Portal in numbers as of October 2025

• Total Data Available: about 512 TiB
• Number of Products in catalog: 300
• Unique Visitors : 4 833

5 - How to cite

• If you are using a screenshot of the OVL portal in a public presentation or in a publication, we kindly ask you to add the following citation:
  "from OVL portal https://ovl.oceandatalab.com"

  and you can also add a short link of what you are showing in the caption using the "Share" button in the title bar at the top of the OVL portal.
  Additionally, if you are showing some Copernicus Sentinel data, you may need to add:
  "Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data"

• If you are using a screenshot or animation from a SEAShot in a public presentation or in a publication, we kindly ask you to add the following citation:
  "using SEAShot https://seashot.odl.bzh"

  and if it is from a public SEAShot, you can also add a short link to the SEAShot by copy & pasting the specific SEAShot URL.
  Additionally, if you are showing some Copernicus Sentinel data, you may need to add:
  "Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data"

🎉 Welcome to our First OVL Newsletter!

We’re excited to bring you the latest updates and improvements to our OVL web portal and SEAScope application tools in our quarterly newsletter. We have designed it to help you:

• Be aware of new products onboard on the OVL portal.
• Stay up-to-date on new functionalities and enhancements that make your experience smoother and more productive.
• Inform you about training materials, tutorials, and guides to help you maximize the potential of the OVL tools.
• Build a stronger community by sharing insights, events, and key metrics about this community.

1 - OVL Portal Updates

🌟 New Products Added

• ESA CCI SST & Chlorophyll: Monthly averages and anomalies from 2010 to mid-2024 are now available. https://odl.bzh/ebAAiSRU
• OpenMetBuoys: New datasets added for MARSICO and Svalbard MIZ experiments. https://odl.bzh/l_Mr0AvZ

📈 Product Updates

• SWOT L3 SSH: Now updated with data up to the end of September 2024 on a dedicated OVL SWOT CalVal portal: https://odl.bzh/tTyfeHf3

🛠️ New Functionalities

• Browser’s back/forward buttons now work seamlessly (e.g., after creating a seashot or clicking on a hotspot).
• Change the color of annotations with ease.
• Select global datasets directly on the map.

🚀 Improvements

• Streamlines’ particle density adjusts better to data resolution, view port, and zoom level.
• Improved scroll handling for Apple devices.
• The "Hide unreachable products" toggle is disabled by default.
• Focus no longer shifts to the "Text" field when selecting a text annotation.

2 - SEAScope: October 2024 Release

The fall SEAScope release includes bug fixes, new functionalities, performance improvements as well as a brand new User manual.

🛠️ New Functionalities

• State Restoration: Timeline’s geographical extent (center and zoom) is saved when SEAScope shuts down and restored at next start.
• Instantaneous granules with identical start and end times are now supported.
• External file browsers and system dialog boxes can now be used.

🚀 Improvements

• "Nearest" Timeline Mode: Redesigned for better intuitiveness.
• Annotation Properties Panel: Enhanced for consistency, especially for image annotations.
• Drawing Tools: Shape editing and invalid geometry detection are now smoother.
• Improved parallel data loading for better performance.

3 - Event: OTC25 Online Training

The first part of ESA ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE ON OCEAN SYNERGY REMOTE SENSING is happening online and is using the OVL tools to help students get the most of satellite data. We had a dedicated session to explore the OVL tool including a practical tour.

📹 Watch the recording here: OVL Tools Training Video

4 - Check Out Our YouTube Channel

We’ve updated our channel with exciting content, including a new playlist for temporal animations.

📊 OVL Portal in numbers as of February 2025

• Total Data Available: about 475 TiB
• Number of Products in catalog: 270
• Unique Visitors : 2 821