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September 2017 - Pre-Collection Datasets Removal

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Landsat 4-5 TM, Landsat 7, and Landsat 8 Pre-Collection Data Removal Notice

As previously announced, the Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager/ Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) Pre-Collection datasets will be removed from EarthExplorer on October 1, 2017.

Users are strongly encouraged to use Landsat Collection 1 data products for all applications.

Landsat 1-5 Multispectral Scanner (MSS) Pre-Collection data will remain available until the data are processed into the Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure, which will occur after data quality analysis and processing level investigations are completed at the end of 2017.

Landsat Collection Tiers are the inventory structure for all Landsat Level-1 data products and are based on data quality and level of processing. The tier definition purpose is to support easier identification of suitable scenes for time-series pixel-level analysis, and provide temporary data that are processed immediately upon downlink to be available quickly with predicted calibration parameters.

Landsat Collection 1 Tiers:

  • Tier 1 scenes are calibrated to the highest geometric and radiometric quality to enable time-series analysis and data stacking (?12-meter geodetic accuracy).
  • Tier 2 scenes do not meet the Tier 1 criteria due to significant cloud cover, insufficient ground control, or other factors.
  • Real-Time scenes are processed upon downlink but use predicted ephemeris, initial bumper mode parameters, or initial TIRS line-of-sight model parameters. The data is placed in this tier and made available for immediate download. Once the data have been reprocessed with definitive ephemeris, updated bumper mode parameters and refined TIRS parameters, these data are transitioned into either Tier 1 or Tier 2 and removed from the Real-Time tier.

Additional Landsat Collection 1 Level-1 data product changes include new Landsat Product Identifiers (a new file naming convention), metadata changes, and the addition of new supporting files including a Quality Assessment (QA) band, solar illumination and sensor view angle coefficients, land-based cloud cover scores, and new life-long gain adjustments for Landsat 4-5 TM sensors.

For more information about Landsat Collection 1, please visit the Landsat Collections webpage