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At least 127 records · Page 7

On the Advantages of Using Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 Data for Monitoring Environmental Change

NASA coordinates the Satellite Needs Working Group, dedicated to identifying, communicating, and addressing Earth observation needs of federal agencies. In 2016, the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) dataset was formulated and implemented to fulfill multiple needs. The combination of acquisitions from the Landsat and Sentinel-2 platforms results in a global dataset of surface reflectance with a temporal resolution of two days, while retaining the geometry and 30-meter spatial resolution of Landsat data. This harmonization allows for seamless integration with the 40-year archive of Landsat data. The HLS dataset is now available on the Google Earth Engine, enabling HLS utilization in various algorithms and frameworks essential for monitoring environmental change worldwide. During this presentation, we will demonstrate and discuss the advantages of using HLS data in comparison to using separate streams of Landsat and Sentinel-2 data in existing time series-based frameworks for change monitoring. Specifically, we will explore the application of HLS for continuous monitoring of deforestation using time series-based algorithms traditionally run with Landsat data. Additionally, we will showcase the benefits of HLS data for near real-time monitoring of forest disturbance in tropical regions. These examples underscore the value and utility of the HLS dataset for environmental monitoring and analysis.

Pontus Olofsson↗

The 50-Year Landsat Collection 2 Archive

The Landsat global consolidated data archive now exceeds 50 years. In recognition of the need for consistently processed data across the Landsat satellite series, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated collection-based processing of the entire archive that was processed as Collection 1 in 2016. In preparation for the data from the now successfully launched Landsat 9, the USGS reprocessed the Landsat archive as Collection 2 in 2020. This paper describes the rationale for, and the contents and advancements provided by Collection 2, and highlights the differences between the Collection 1 and Collection 2 products. Notably, the Collection 2 products have improved geolocation and, for the first time, the USGS provides a global inventory of Level 2 surface reflectance and surface temperature products. Also for the first time, the USGS used a commercial cloud computing architecture to efficiently process the archive and enable direct cloud access of the Landsat products. The paper concludes with discussion of likely improvements expected in Collection 3 in preparation for the Landsat Next mission that is planned for launch in the early 2030s.

Christopher J Crawford↗

Landsat TM and ETM+ Thermal Band Calibration

Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) has been imaging the Earth since March 1984 and Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) was added to the series of Landsat instruments in April 1999. The stability and calibration of the ETM+ has been monitored extensively since launch. Though not monitored for many years, TM now has a similar system in place to monitor stability and calibration. University teams have been evaluating the on-board calibration of the instruments through ground-based measurements since 1999. This paper considers the calibration efforts for the thermal band, Band 6, of both the Landsat-5 and Landsat-7 instruments.

Thematic Mapper (TM)↗

Early Spring Post-Fire Snow Albedo Dynamics in High Latitude Boreal Forests Using Landsat-8 OLI Data

Taking advantage of the improved radiometric resolution of Landsat-8 OLI which, unlike previous Landsat sensors, does not saturate over snow, the progress of fire recovery progress at the landscape scale (less than 100 m) is examined. High quality Landsat-8 albedo retrievals can now capture the true reflective and layered character of snow cover over a full range of land surface conditions and vegetation densities. This new capability particularly improves the assessment of post-fire vegetation dynamics across low- to high-burn severity gradients in Arctic and boreal regions in the early spring, when the albedos during recovery show the greatest variation. We use 30 m resolution Landsat-8 surface reflectances with concurrent coarser resolution (500 m) MODIS high quality full inversion surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDF) products to produce higher resolution values of surface albedo. The high resolution full expression shortwave blue sky albedo product performs well with an overall RMSE of 0.0267 between tower and satellite measures under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. While the importance of post-fire albedo recovery can be discerned from the MODIS albedo product at regional and global scales, our study addresses the particular importance of early spring post-fire albedo recovery at the landscape scale by considering the significant spatial heterogeneity of burn severity, and the impact of snow on the early spring albedo of various vegetation recovery types. We found that variations in early spring albedo within a single MODIS gridded pixel can be larger than 0.6. Since the frequency and severity of wildfires in Arctic and boreal systems is expected to increase in the coming decades, the dynamics of albedo in response to these rapid surface changes will increasingly impact the energy balance and contribute to other climate processes and physical feedback mechanisms. Surface radiation products derived from Landsat-8 data will thus play an important role in characterizing the carbon cycle and ecosystem processes of high latitude systems.

Landsat-8 snow albedo↗

Landsat 9 TIRS-2 Performance Results Based on Subsystem-Level Testing

Landsat 9 is the next in the series of Landsat satellites and has a complement of two pushbroom imagers: Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) that samples the solar reflective spectrum with nine channels and Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2) samples the thermal infrared spectrum with two channels. The first builds of these sensors, OLI and TIRS, were launched on Landsat 8 in 2013 and Landsat 9 is expected to launch in December 2020. TIRS-2 is designed and built to continue the Landsat data record and satisfy the needs of the remote sensing community. There are two sets of requirements considered for planning the component, subsystem and instrument level tests for TIRS-2: performance requirements and Special Calibration Test Requirements (SCTR). The performance requirements specify key spectral, spatial, radiometric, and operational parameters of TIRS-2 while the SCTRs specify parameters of how the instrument is tested. Several requirements can only be verified at the instrument level, but many performance metrics can be assessed earlier in prelaunch testing at the subsystem level. A test program called TIRS Imaging Performance and Cryoshell Evaluation (TIPCE) was developed to characterize TIRS-2 spectral, spatial, and scattered-light rejection performance at the telescope and detector subsystem level. There were three thermal vacuum campaigns in TIPCE that occurred from November 2017 to March 2018. This work shows results of TIPCE data analysis which provide confidence that key requirements will be met at instrument level with a few minor waivers. A full complement of performance testing will be done at the TIRS-2 instrument level for final verification in late 2018 through Spring 2019.

scatter↗

The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Surface Reflectance Data Set

The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project is a NASA initiative aiming to produce a VirtualConstellation (VC) of surface reflectance (SR) data acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) aboard Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 remote sensing satellites, respectively. The HLS products are based on a set of algorithms to obtain seamless products from both sensors (OLI and MSI): atmospheric correction, cloud and cloud-shadow masking, spatial co-registration and common gridding, bidirectional reflectance distribution function normalization and spectral bandpass adjustment. Three products are derivedfrom the HLS processing chain: (i) S10: full resolution MSI SR at 10 m, 20 m and 60 m spatial resolutions; (ii)S30: a 30 m MSI Nadir BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function)-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR);(iii) L30: a 30 m OLI NBAR. All three products are processed for every Level-1 input products from Landsat 8/OLI (L1T) and Sentinel-2/MSI (L1C). As of version 1.3, the HLS data set covers 10.35 million km2 and spans from first Landsat 8 data (2013); Sentinel-2 data spans from October 2015. The L30 and S30 show a good consistency with coarse spatial resolution products, in particular MODIS Collection 6 MCD09CMG products (overall deviations do not exceed 11%) that are used as a reference for quality assurance. The spatial co-registration of the HLS is improved compared to original Landsat 8 L1T and Sentinel 2A L1C products, for which misregistration issues between multi-temporal data are known. In particular, the resulting computed circular errors at 90% for the HLS product are 6.2 m and 18.8 m, for S10 and L30 products, respectively. The main known issue of the current data set remains the Sentinel-2 cloud mask with many cloud detection omissions. The cross-comparison with MODIS was used to flag products with most evident non-detected clouds. A time series outlier filtering approach is suggested to detect remaining clouds. Finally, several time series are presented to highlight the high potential of the HLS data set for crop monitoring.

Landsat Sentinel-2↗

Using Landsat 8 Satellite Imagery to Analyze Biogeochemical Constituents in the Waters of the San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond

The ocean's coastal zones play a key role in our planet's health and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Building on the success of NASA satellite imagery in mapping land cover changes around the globe in response to climate change, deforestation, and natural disasters, I have worked to determine how aquatic reflectance images from the Landsat 8 sensor could be correlated with biogeochemical constituents within the waters of the San Francisco Bay Area and California coastline. By analyzing Landsat 8 satellite imagery from the years 2013-2020 in collaboration with data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), and universities involved with the Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Alert Program (HABMAP), I investigated which areas of the San Francisco Bay and California coastline demonstrated significant correlations with values extracted from the satellite imagery. Using a Chlorophyll Index (CI) ratio calculated from two Landsat 8 satellite reflectance bands, it was found that there is a positive correlation between the CI and calculated oxygen, suspended particulate matter, and silicate from several USGS sampling points. In contrast, there is a significant negative correlation between the CI and salinity, nitrite, and phosphate at those same locations. Moreover, large suspected harmful algal blooms (HABs) along the California coastline seen in the Landsat 8 imagery were corroborated with HAB data from various institutions. Understanding the effectiveness of Landsat 8 aquatic reflectance images will allow scientists to predict HABs and other nutrient cycling that may be harmful to aquatic ecosystems around the world.

Landsat↗

Validity of the Landsat Surface Reflectance Archive for Aquatic Science: Implications for Cloud-Based Analysis

Originally developed for terrestrial science and applications, the US Geological Survey Landsat surface reflectance (SR) archive spanning ~ 40 yr of observations has been increasingly utilized in large‐scale water‐quality studies. These products, however, have not been rigorously validated using in situ measured reflectance. This letter quantifies and demonstrates the quality of the SR products by harnessing a sizeable global dataset ( N = 1100). We found that the Landsat 8/9 SR in the green and red bands marginally meet the targeted accuracy requirements (30%), whereas the uncertainties in the blue and coastal‐aerosol bands ranged from 48% to 110%. We further observed > +25% biases in the visible bands of Landsat 5/7 SR, which can introduce an apparent downward trend when applied in time‐series analyses combined with Landsat 8/9. Users must exercise caution when using this archive for trend analyses, and progress in atmospheric correction is required to foster advanced applications of the Landsat archive for aquatic science.

Landsat, lakes, harmful algal blooms↗

Improved LANDSAT to give better view of earth resources

The launch data of LANDSAT 3 is announced. The improved capability of the spacecrafts' remote sensors (the return beam vidicon and the multispectral scanner) and application of LANDSAT data to the study of energy supplies, food production, and global large-scale environmental monitoring are discussed along with the piggyback amateur radio communication satellite-OSCAR-D, the plasma Interaction Experiment, and the data collection system onboard LANDSAT 3. An assessment of the utility of LANDSAT multispectral data is given based on the research results to data from studies of LANDSAT 1 and 2 data. Areas studied include agriculture, rangelands, forestry, water resources, environmental and marine resources, environmental and marine resources, cartography, land use, demography, and geological surveys and mineral/petroleum exploration.

Source record↗

Summary of Landsat applications and results

A review of applications and results of Landsat projects is presented. Attention is given to the MSS bands, band ratios, and color composites noting the applications of each in agriculture, forestry and range, water resources, geology, land use, and marine resources. A series of Landsat images is presented noting forest regions, burn scars, vegetated areas, and flood regions. A geological map compiled from an analysis of Landsat imagery is presented along with a strip-mine map also constructed from the data of Landsat images. Landsat data is further discussed with reference to mineral exploration, earthquake-zone investigations, and geothermal surveys.

Mercanti, E. P.↗

Landsat missions

This paper gives a description and present status of NASA's Landsat program, including the orbital coverage, payload, data processing, and data products. Data uses are discussed in general terms. Also discussed are NASA's plans for the Landsat-3 and Landsat-D missions and the improved capabilities represented by these missions. The Shuttle retrieval of Landsat-D and the Shuttle launch of future Landsat satellites are discussed conceptually.

Mannheimer, H.↗

Applications of modeling to analysis and processing of Landsat data

The Suits bidirectional reflectance model (1972) for vegetation canopies was used to calculate reflectance values for the four Landsat spectral bands under a variety of canopy and observation conditions. Relationships between characteristics of developing wheat fields and associated reflectances were studied. Coincident measurements of crop reflectance and Landsat signals were compared using regression analysis techniques. The model was also applied to forest situations both to help establish the extent to which Landsat may provide direct information about conditions occurring beneath forest overstories and to help develop methods for reducing the effects of terrain slope and aspect in the processing of Landsat data. Finally, a relationship based on model calculations was used to adjust Landsat signal values and was found to reduce topography-related variability and improve subsequent classification performance.

Malila, W. A.↗

Manual versus digital Landsat analysis for delineating river flooding

It has been found that flood boundary information derived from Landsat images, acquired at different flood stages, could be used to develop an empirical model for estimating the extent of flooding on the basis of in situ measurements of river discharge. An investigation was undertaken to determine whether improved results might have been obtained through digital image analysis or by including other Landsat spectral bands. The study area encompasses a highly flood-prone reach of the Black River in Lewis County, NY. It was found that visual analysis of aerial photographs and a Landsat band 7 image gave similar results. Visual and digital analysis of Landsat band 7 data gave similar results, and digital analysis of Landsat band 7 data gave results which were at least as good as digital analysis of combinations of spectral bands.

Philipson, W. R.↗

LANDSAT 2, 3, and D

The history and operational status of the LANDSAT satellites and processing of LANDSAT imagery are summarized. Multispectral band scanner (MSS) data from LANDSAT 2 are being provided by recorders placed at several foreign ground stations. Return beam vidicon data are being received from LANDSAT 3. Processing and delivery of these data is improving, with disappearance of the backlog projected for 1982. The acquisition of MSS data and data from the thematic mapper (TM) is expected from LANDSAT D, with transfer of MSS data to NOAA projected for 1983 and TM data for 1985.

Salomonson, V. V.↗

Landsat in the search for Appalachian hydrocarbons

A study has been conducted to determine the applicability of enhanced Landsat imagery for oil and gas exploration in Appalachia. Attention was given to the feasibility to employ lineaments identified on Landsat imagery as a tool in petroleum exploration. Lineaments, as defined in this connection, are linear or sublinear traces seen on Landsat imagery. They frequently reflect subsurface geological structures. The investigation was conducted in two stages. The first was designed to identify the specific Landsat imagery enhancement best suited for displaying lineaments. The second stage consisted of plotting lineaments and conducting an analysis of the lineament trends with regard to both local geological structure and regional tectonics. A close relationship was observed between lineaments identified on Landsat imagery and known oil and gas reservoirs. This result suggests that lineaments can be related to the structural control of oil and gas reservoirs throughout Appalachia.

Blodget, H. W.↗

Landsat-based estimation of California's irrigated land

The procedure developed uses two-phase sampling, stratification and multidate Landsat imagery to produce the estimate. Maximizing the advantages of both spectral data and field patterns available from Landsat, three dates of Landsat imagery are interpreted to provide county-wide estimates of the proportion of land irrigated. Ground data, collected on a subset of the area interpreted on Landsat, are used to calibrate the satellite estimate. The satellite and ground measurements are reduced to proportion data and linked using a regression estimator to produce the estimate of irrigated land. It is estimated that 3.99 million hectares were irrigated with a relative standard error of + or - 1.18% at the 99% confidence level. Acreage tabulations provided by the Department of Water Resources show that the Landsat-based estimate differed by less than 0.4% at the state level.

Wall, S. L.↗

Merging LANDSAT Derived Land Covers into Quad-referenced Geographic Information Systems

An approach for merging multiscene LANDSAT data bases into existing geographic information systems having 5-second or smaller cells is described. The approach uses the output from the State of Maryland's UNIVAC 1180-based LANDSAT classification program ASTEP (Algorithm Simulation Test and Evaluation) developed by NASA. The structure of the technique was designed to address the problems that emerged as part of the LANDSAT classification of the 64,000 square mile Chesapeake water shed involving twelve scenes. The removal of overlap among adjacent scenes, the crossreferencing of ground control points, and the isolation of the appropriate pixels from the LANDSAT data base for subsequent positioning into a file containing ancillary data referenced to a specific USGS 7 1/2 minute quadrangle sheet are described. Examples illustrate the clustering of classified LANDSAT pixels to define the dominant land use for each of 8,100 cells within a series of quadrangle sheets distributed over the State of Maryland. The approach uses a hard copy terminal tied to an ASTEP algorithm through telephone lines. A coordinate digitizing board for inputing the position of ground control points is also valuable, although manual measurements are possible. The approach is quite efficient and should be especially attractive for use on regional scale studies.

White, J. M.↗

Cost effectiveness of conventional versus LANDSAT use data for hydrologic modeling

Six case studies were analyzed to investigate the cost effectiveness of using land use data obtained from LANDSAT as opposed to conventionally obtained data. A procedure was developed to determine the relative effectiveness of the two alternative means of acquiring data for hydrological modelling. The cost of conventionally acquired data ranged between $3,000 and $16,000 for the six test basins. Information based on LANDSAT imagery cost between $2,000 and $5,000. Results of the effectiveness analysis shows the differences between the two methods are insignificant. From the cost comparison and the act that each method, conventional and LANDSAT, is shown to be equally effective in developing land use data for hydrologic studies, the cost effectiveness of the conventional or LANDSAT method is found to be a function of basin size for the six test watersheds analyzed. The LANDSAT approach is cost effective for areas containing more than 10 square miles.

George, T. S.↗