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How do I use a scale factor with Landsat Level-2 science products?

Landsat Level-2 products are written as scaled integers to allow us to convert the data from floating point to integer for delivery.  In most cases these are written to a 16-bit integer, which saves disk space and provides faster download times.   

Each floating point pixel has an offset applied and then multiplied by a gain to bring the value into the 16-bit integer (or unsigned integer) range.  These values are referred to as scaled integers.  To allow the user to get the data back to its original floating point value, a scale factor and offset are provided for each band.  The scale_factor should be applied to each pixel and then the offset added (i.e. Digital Number (DN) * scale_factor + offset).  

You can apply a scale factor to the science products via a data script, through manual calculation, or within certain software programs. 

Please refer to the Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 Science Product documents on https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-project-documents to learn more about scale factors applied to Landsat products.  

Scale factors, fill values, data type, and valid range for Landsat Collection 1 and Collection 2 science products
Science Product Scale Factor Additive

Offset
Fill Value Data Type Valid Range
Collection 2
Surface Reflectance 0.0000275 -0.2 0 Unsigned 16-bit integer 7273-43636 
Surface Temperature 0.00341802 149 0 Unsigned 16-bit integer 293 - 65535 
Provisional Aquatic Reflectance 

0.00001 

(RHORC layers = 0.0001) 

N/A -9999 Signed 16-bit integer 0-10000
Collection 1 (historic)  Collection 1 information is available here for reference only 
Surface Reflectance 0.0001 N/A -9999 Signed 16-bit integer 0-10000
Provisional Surface Temperature 0.1 N/A -9999 Signed 16-bit integer 0-10000

Examples for scaling Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 science products

Surface Reflectance

  • Landsat Collection 2 surface reflectance has a scale factor of 0.0000275 and an additional offset of -0.2 per pixel. 

  • For example, a pixel value of 18,639 is multiplied by 0.0000275 for the scale factor and then -0.2 is added for the additional offset to get a reflectance value of 0.313 after the scale factor is applied.

Surface Temperature

  • Landsat Collection 2 surface temperature has a scale factor of 0.00341802 and an additional offset of 149.0 per pixel. 

  • For example, a pixel value of 44,947 is multiplied by 0.00341802 for the scale factor and 149.0 is added for the additional offset to get 302.6 Kelvin after the scale factor is applied. 

Provisional Aquatic Reflectance 

  • Landsat 8-9 Collection 2 provisional aquatic reflectance (AR) (bands 1-5) has a scale factor of 0.00001. The intermediate Rayleigh-corrected reflectance (RHORC, bands 1-7) products delivered in the AR package  has a scale factor of 0.0001. 

  •  For example, a pixel value of 3000 in an AR layer is multiplied by the scale factor 0.00001 to get a water-leaving reflectance value of 0.0300. A pixel value of 300 in a RHORC layer is multiplied by the scale factor 0.0001 to get a Rayleigh-corrected reflectance value of 0.0300. 

Learn more: Landsat Science Products

 

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