Landsat Thematic Mapper

• The first Landsat (or Earth Observation Satellite) launched  in 1972.  The main instrument on the early Landsats was the MSS (Multi-spectral scanner) with 4 or 5 bands and about 75 m pixel resolution.
• Landsat 4, launched in 1982, was the first to carry the Thematic Mapper (TM).  It had a maximum resolution of 30 m, with 6 bands in the visible and near infrared, and a thermal IR band with 120 m resolution. The Landsat archive really starts with this satellite.
• Landsat 5, launched in 1984, provided data until 2013.  This long life was the result of the loss of Landsat 6 at launch, and the SLC failure of Landsat 7 in 2003.
• Landsat 6 (which failed to reach orbit in 1993) and 7 (launched in 1999) added the Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) which has a panchromatic band with 15 m resolution.  The thermal band has 60 m resolution, but is usually now distributed with 30 m pixesl to match the other bands.
• Landsat 8 launched in 2013 and had a number of improvements: more bands, better radiometric resolution.

The value of Landsat lies in:

• A long archive of monitoring the earth, which is especially valuable for creating land cover data.
• An intermediate scale, which despite the current availability of sub meter satellite imagery, is still valuable for many regional studies.
• The ability to display multiple bands to highlight vegetation, geology, or other features with true and false colors displays.

Landsat 7/8 bands

Path/Row shapefiles and KML: https://landsat.usgs.gov/pathrow-shapefiles

Landsat introductions on the web:

• https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/how-to-use-landsat-data/
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/FalseColor/
• https://www.mapbox.com/blog/processing-landsat-8/

Converting to TOA radiance or reflectance

• https://landsat.usgs.gov/using-usgs-landsat-8-product
• http://yceo.yale.edu/how-convert-landsat-dns-top-atmosphere-toa-reflectance

• you can choose whether to use the DN or the radiance or reflectances in computations

Last revision 4/23/2018