Radiometric Characteristics of the Landsat Collection 1 Dataset

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DOI: 10.4236/ars.2018.73014    1,071 Downloads   2,935 Views  Citations

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates the long-term radiometric performance of the USGS new released Landsat Collection 1 archive, including the absolute calibration of each Landsat sensor as well as the relative cross-calibration among the four most popular Landsat sensors. A total of 920 Landsat Collection 1 scenes were evaluated against the corresponding Pre-Collection images over a Pseudo-Invariant Site, Railroad Valley Playa Nevada, United States (RVPN). The radiometric performance of the six Landsat solar reflective bands, in terms of both Digital Numbers (DNs) and at-sensor Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, on the sensor cross-calibration was examined. Results show that absolute radiometric calibration at DNs level was applied to the Landsat-4 and -5 TM (L4 TM and L5 TM) by 1.119% to 0.126%. For L4 TM and L5 TM, the cross-calibration decreased the radiometric measurement level by rescaling at-sensor radiance to DN values. The radiometric changes, 0.77% for L4 TM, 0.95% for L5 TM, 0.26% for L7 ETM+, and 0.01% for L8 OLI, were detected during the cross-calibration stage of converting DNs into TOA reflectance. This study has also indicated that the long-term radiometric performance for the Landsat Collection 1 archive is promising. Supports of these conclusions were demonstrated through the time-series analysis based on the Landsat Collection 1 image stack. Nevertheless, the radiometric changes across the four Landsat sensors raised concerns of the previous Landsat Pre-Collection based results. We suggest that Landsat users should pay attention to differences in results from Pre-Collection and Collection 1 time-series data sets.

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Li, S. , Wang, W. , Ganguly, S. and Nemani, R. (2018) Radiometric Characteristics of the Landsat Collection 1 Dataset. Advances in Remote Sensing, 7, 203-217. doi: 10.4236/ars.2018.73014.

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