Abstract
This study evaluates the radiometric consistency between Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) using cross calibration techniques. Two approaches are used, one based on cross calibration between the two sensors using simultaneous image pairs, acquired during an underfly event on 29–30 March 2013. The other approach is based on using time series of image statistics acquired by these two sensors over the Libya 4 pseudo invariant calibration site (PICS) (+28.55°N, +23.39°E). Analyses from these approaches show that the reflectance calibration of OLI is generally within ±3% of the ETM+ radiance calibration for all the reflective bands from visible to short wave infrared regions when the ChKur solar spectrum is used to convert the ETM+ radiance to reflectance. Similar results are obtained comparing the OLI radiance calibration directly with the ETM+ radiance calibration and the results in these two different physical units (radiance and reflectance) agree to within ±2% for all the analogous bands. These results will also be useful to tie all the Landsat heritage sensors from Landsat 1 MultiSpectral Scanner (MSS) through Landsat-8 OLI to a consistent radiometric scale.
Highlights
The primary objective of the Landsat-8 (L8) mission operation is to collect, archive, process and distribute science data in a manner consistent with the existing Landsat data record [1,2]
pseudo invariant calibration site (PICS)-based calibration methods have been used by numerous researchers over an extended period of time [12,14,15,16,17,18] A host of PICS sites have been endorsed by Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and these stable Earth-based sites have been used extensively to monitor the post-launch temporal stability of optical satellite sensors and for cross-calibration/inter-comparison purposes [12,19,20,21,22,23]
The direction of difference is consistent between different bands such that the top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectance reported by Operational Land Imager (OLI) is generally higher
Summary
The primary objective of the Landsat-8 (L8) mission operation is to collect, archive, process and distribute science data in a manner consistent with the existing Landsat data record [1,2]. A key precursor for these studies is the consistent radiometric calibration of the satellite sensors and radiometric stability of the Landsat sensors. This element has been a key contributing factor to the overall success of the Landsat mission. In this context, on-going characterization of OLI data is critical to maintain the continuity of high data quality
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