Comparison of tasselled cap transformations based on the selective bands of Landsat 8 OLI TOA reflectance images

Abstract

Parameters for the tasselled cap transformation (TCT) have been derived for many sensors since 1976. There have been concerns about the comparability of TCT brightness (TCTB), greenness (TCTG), and wetness (TCTW) from different sensors because the number and bandwidth of spectral bands of the different sensors are not exactly the same and the derivation methods vary. In this research, comparisons between the TCT components derived from different combination images with a different number of spectral bands are considered. First, a new TCT based on a new data set from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager top of atmosphere (OLI TOA) reflectance was developed. Then, a case study of the Yellow River Delta, China, demonstrated that TCT parameters derived from a Landsat 8 OLI TOA reference image from May 2013 were probably applicable to clear and nearly cloud-free images for spring, summer, and autumn over the Yellow River Delta. Finally, we compared the TCT components derived from selected bands of Landsat 8 OLI TOA reflectance images and those derived from images from other well-known moderate-resolution worldwide remote-sensing data by statistical characteristics, correlation coefficients, the optimum index factor (OIF), and classification with a support vector machine. The result supports our conclusion (a) that two new shortwave bands (Bands 1 and 9) of the Landsat 8 OLI have little effect on derivations of the TCT components and their ability to classify land cover type and (b) that Bands 4–7 in Landsat multispectral scanner, Bands 1–4 in Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and Bands 1–4 in Systeme Probatoire d’Observation dela Tarre 5 are sufficient for deriving TCTB, TCTG, and TCTW components and mapping land cover.