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Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Images

By Landsat Missions

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook images are full-resolution files derived from Landsat Collection 1 Level-1 data products. The images are compressed and stretched to create an image optimized for image selection and visual interpretation.

NOTE:  Landsat Collection 1 based forward processing ended December 31, 2021. As of January 1, 2022, all new Landsat acquisitions are processed into the Collection 2 inventory structure only.

Access Landsat Collection 2 Full Resolution Browse images information

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Image Examples
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Examples of Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Images, from left to right:  Natural Color Image, Thermal Image, and Quality Image. Images are derived from Landsat 8 Path 45 Row 30 acquired April 23, 2013. Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Images can be downloaded as individual files for each Landsat scene from EarthExplorer or GloVis.

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Natural Color Image: a .jpg composite of three bands to show a “natural” looking (false color) image. Reflectance values were calculated from the calibrated scaled digital number (DN) image data. The reflectance values were scaled to a 1-255 range using a gamma stretch with a gamma=2.0. This stretch was designed to emphasize vegetation without clipping the extreme values.

Landsat 8 OLI = Bands 6,5,4

Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 4-5 TM = Bands 5,4,3

Landsat 4-5 MSS = Bands 2,4,1

Landsat 1-3 MSS = Bands 5,7,4

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Thermal Image: a one-band gray scale .jpg image that displays thermal properties of a Landsat scene. Image brightness temperature values were calculated from the calibrated scaled digital number (DN) image data. An image specific 2 percent clip and a linear stretch to 1-255 were applied to the brightness temperature values.

Landsat 8 TIRS = Band 10

Landsat 7 ETM+ = Band 61-high gain

Landsat 4-5 TM = Band 6

Landsat 1-5 MSS = not available

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Quality Image: 8-bit files generated from the Landsat Level-1 Quality Band to provide a quick view of the quality of the pixels within the scene to determine if a particular scene would work best for the user's application. This file includes values representing bit-packed combinations of surface, atmosphere, and sensor conditions that can affect the overall usefulness of a given pixel. Color mapping assignments can be seen in the image below.  

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook 8-bit Quality Image Designations
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
This image displays the Quality Image designations and associated colors for Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook 8-bit images. 

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Images are included as options when downloading Landsat scenes from EarthExplorer or GloVis. For each Landsat scene, LandsatLook Quality images can be downloaded individually in .jpg format, or as a GeoTIFF (.TIF) when downloading the LandsatLook Images with Geographic Reference file. 

Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook Images with Geographic Reference

The LandsatLook Image with Geographic Reference is a .zip file bundle that contains the Natural Color, Thermal, and the 8-bit Quality images in georeferenced GeoTiff (.TIF) file format.

It is recommended that these images not be used for scientific analysis.