Comparison of the response of the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus and the Earth Observing-1 Advanced Land Imager over active lava flows

Abstract

Using near simultaneously acquired Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Earth Observing-1 Advanced Land Imager (ALI) data we assess the relative radiant responses over active lava flows from the Mt. Etna July/August 2001 flank eruption. By assessing the extent of saturation between the two instruments and using the dual-band method of extracting sub pixel thermal information, we show that the ALI represents an improvement over the ETM+ in the present ability to assess temperatures of hot active lava flows for a number of reasons. (1) The extra spectral channels provided by ALI compliment the current SWIR channels on ETM+ by providing a greater number of paired channel combinations for input into the dual-band method. Thus, dual-band temperature solutions can be determined for a greater range of lava flow types than previously possible using the two paired channel combinations available with the ETM+. (2) The ALI instrument is less susceptible than ETM+ to saturation within the SWIR, especially when using channels 5, 5p and 4p at wavelengths of 1.65, 1.25 and 0.87 μm respectively. (3) The greater radiometric sensitivity of the ALI 12 bit electronics coupled with a significantly higher signal to noise ratio aid in obtaining successful dual-band solutions.