Landsat Surface Reflectance-Derived Spectral Indices
Landsat Normalized Burn Ratio
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This image displays a (left) Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance (SR) and (right) the SR-derived Landsat Surface Reflectance Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR).
Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Landsat Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) are derived from Landsat 4–5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) scenes that can be successfully processed to Landsat Level-2 Surface Reflectance products.
NBR is used to identify burned areas and provide a measure of burn severity. It is calculated as a ratio between the NIR and SWIR values in traditional fashion.
(NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)
In Landsat 4-7, NBR = (Band 4 – Band 7) / (Band 4 + Band 7).
In Landsat 8, NBR = (Band 5 – Band 7) / (Band 5 + Band 7).
NBR is delivered a single band product specified as shown in the table below.
| Attrribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Long Name | Normalized Burn Ratio |
| Short Name | LC8NBR, LE7NBR, LT5NBR, or LT4NBR |
| File Name | *_sr_nbr.tif |
| Data Type | Signed 16-bit Integer |
| Units | Spectral Index (Band Ratio) |
| Valid Range | -10,000 — 10,000 |
| Fill Value | -9999 |
| Saturate Value | 20,000 |
| Scale Factor | *0.0001 |
Data Access
Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived NBR are produced on-demand, using the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) On Demand Interface (ESPA).
Visit the Landsat Surface Reflectance-Derived Spectral Indices webpage for information on product contraints, citation, and reference information.