Cross-calibration of the Landsat-4 and Landsat-5 thematic mappers

Abstract

The Landsat Thematic Mappers have obtained imagery of the Earth's surface since 1982 with the launch of Landsat 4. However, the absolute calibration of this first instrument, as well as it's cross-calibration to the other two thematic mappers on Landsat 5 and 7, remains in question. The objective for this work was to provide an absolute radiometric calibration of the Landsat 4 instrument. Landsat 4's internal calibrator, while still useful, does not provide an absolute calibration; it does provide a relative calibration of the instrument's responsivity over the lifetime of the mission. The same is true for the Landsat 5 internal calibrator; however, Landsat 5 has been cross-calibrated to Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, which is believed to be absolutely calibrated to within 5%. Therefore, by cross-calibrating Landsat 4 to Landsat 7 through Landsat 5, an absolute calibration for Landsat 4 can be determined. This study provides only the Landsat 4 and 5 cross-calibration models. To determine these models, Landsat 4/Landsat 5 scene pairs were studied. Within each pair, 8 400x400-pixel sub-regions were selected from the image. The exact geo-located sub-region was located from both instruments and an assumption was made that the ground and the atmosphere did not change between image dates. Therefore, any difference between the images may be attributed to the difference in the instruments. Results of this cross-calibration using multiple dates were consistent to within 2%. Once the cross-calibration points were determined, they were used to correct the relative lifetime-calibration model from the internal calibrator, hence producing an absolute lifetime-calibration model.