Tests on Masking for Reprocessing 4

Prior to reprocessing 4, the project looked at the flagging and masking that is currently being done.  A primary question is whether any change can be made in the masks used in making the level-3 binned product.  The initial test is to assess how much impact is made by the various flags used as level-3 masks.  The results of that test show that the stray light flag is having the greatest impact in removing samples and coverage from the level-3 datasets.
 

Stray light flag improvements

The first round of work has been completed on relaxing the amount of flagging that is done by the stray light flag.  Indications are that this can be done and the amount of stray light flagged pixels can be reduced by 1/4 with little effect on the water-leaving radiances or chlorophyll.  More details can be found HERE