What it takes each day to keep Landsat 7 operating smoothly. Hear the stories from inside the L7 Mission Operation Center.
What is Landsat 7 ETM+ SLC-off data?
Landsat 7 ETM+ SLC-off data refers to all Landsat 7 images collected after May 31, 2003, when the Scan Line Corrector (SLC) failed. These products have data gaps, but are still useful and maintain the same radiometric and geometric corrections as data collected prior to the SLC failure.
See the Landsat 7 website for information about the SLC-off data products.
Related Content
Why do Landsat 7 Level-1 products contain two thermal bands?
Landsat 7 acquires thermal data in two bands from one detector in both high (Band 6H) and low (Band 6L) gain. The difference in gain settings is important to different types of studies (i.e., clouds vs. deserts). Aside from the resolution differences and saturation on the high and low ends, the two bands provide the same Digital Numbers (DN) for every pixel. FILE_NAME_BAND_6_VCID_1 (band 61 or 6L)...
What Landsat data products are available?
There are several Landsat data products that are useful for science applications and land use/land change studies: Landsat Level-1 Science Products - Each Level-1 scene includes individual spectral band files, a metadata file, and additional ancillary files. These products cover worldwide scenes. Landsat U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) - Uses Landsat Collections Level-1 data as input to provide...
Does the Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector (SLC)-off artifact affect Landsat Collections tier designation?
The Landsat 7 SLC-off artifact does not change how the data are placed into Landsat Collection tiers, as tier classifications are determined by the radiometric and geometric accuracy of each scene. Learn more: Landsat Collections Landsat Data Access
What are Landsat 7 SLC-off Gap Mask files?
Band-specific gap mask files are included with every Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector (SLC)-off Level-1 data product. These ancillary data identify the location of all pixels affected by the original data gaps in the primary SLC-off scene. The gap mask is provided as a series of individual band files, in compressed (GZIP) GeoTIFF format. Gap Mask Legend Values: green = primary scene blue = fill scene...
What are some known issues that users might find in Landsat data?
A number of artifacts and anomalies can happen to any remote sensing data. Banding, dropped scan lines, and detector failures are only a few of the anomalies that can be seen in Landsat data. Go to Landsat Known Issues for details about anomalies that have been discovered and investigated.
What are the best Landsat spectral bands for use in my research?
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
What is the Landsat satellite program and why is it important?
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. On July 23, 1972, in cooperation with NASA, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) was launched. It was later renamed Landsat 1. Additional Landsat satellites have launched to bring the world an archive of remote sensing data. Currently orbiting and active...
Daily Operations of Landsat 7
What it takes each day to keep Landsat 7 operating smoothly. Hear the stories from inside the L7 Mission Operation Center.
Related Content
Why do Landsat 7 Level-1 products contain two thermal bands?
Landsat 7 acquires thermal data in two bands from one detector in both high (Band 6H) and low (Band 6L) gain. The difference in gain settings is important to different types of studies (i.e., clouds vs. deserts). Aside from the resolution differences and saturation on the high and low ends, the two bands provide the same Digital Numbers (DN) for every pixel. FILE_NAME_BAND_6_VCID_1 (band 61 or 6L)...
What Landsat data products are available?
There are several Landsat data products that are useful for science applications and land use/land change studies: Landsat Level-1 Science Products - Each Level-1 scene includes individual spectral band files, a metadata file, and additional ancillary files. These products cover worldwide scenes. Landsat U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) - Uses Landsat Collections Level-1 data as input to provide...
Does the Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector (SLC)-off artifact affect Landsat Collections tier designation?
The Landsat 7 SLC-off artifact does not change how the data are placed into Landsat Collection tiers, as tier classifications are determined by the radiometric and geometric accuracy of each scene. Learn more: Landsat Collections Landsat Data Access
What are Landsat 7 SLC-off Gap Mask files?
Band-specific gap mask files are included with every Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector (SLC)-off Level-1 data product. These ancillary data identify the location of all pixels affected by the original data gaps in the primary SLC-off scene. The gap mask is provided as a series of individual band files, in compressed (GZIP) GeoTIFF format. Gap Mask Legend Values: green = primary scene blue = fill scene...
What are some known issues that users might find in Landsat data?
A number of artifacts and anomalies can happen to any remote sensing data. Banding, dropped scan lines, and detector failures are only a few of the anomalies that can be seen in Landsat data. Go to Landsat Known Issues for details about anomalies that have been discovered and investigated.
What are the best Landsat spectral bands for use in my research?
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
What is the Landsat satellite program and why is it important?
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. On July 23, 1972, in cooperation with NASA, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) was launched. It was later renamed Landsat 1. Additional Landsat satellites have launched to bring the world an archive of remote sensing data. Currently orbiting and active...
Daily Operations of Landsat 7
What it takes each day to keep Landsat 7 operating smoothly. Hear the stories from inside the L7 Mission Operation Center.
What it takes each day to keep Landsat 7 operating smoothly. Hear the stories from inside the L7 Mission Operation Center.