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Landsat Normalized Burn Ratio 2

Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2) modifies the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) to highlight water sensitivity in vegetation and may be useful in post-fire recovery studies. 

Return to Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices Overview

 

Landsat Surface Reflectance and Normalized Burn Ratio 2
This image displays a (left) Landsat Surface Reflectance (SR) and (right) the SR-derived Landsat Surface Reflectance Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2).

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Landsat Normalized Burn Ration 2 (NBR2) are acquired from Landsat 4–5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8-9* Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) Collection 1 and Collection 2 scenes that have been processed to Landsat Level-2 Surface Reflectance products.  *Landsat 9 = Collection 2 only

NBR2 modifies the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) to highlight water sensitivity in vegetation and may be useful in post-fire recovery studies. NBR2 is calculated as a ratio between the SWIR values, substituting the SWIR1 band for the NIR band used in NBR.

(SWIR1 – SWIR2) / (SWIR1 + SWIR2)

In Landsat 4-7, NBR2 = (Band 5 – Band 7) / (Band 5 + Band 7)

In Landsat 8-9, NBR2 = (Band 6 – Band 7) / (Band 6 + Band 7)

NBR2 is delivered as a single band product, specified as shown in the table below.

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Landsat Normalized Burn Ration 2 (NBR2) Specifications
Attribute Value
Long Name Normalized Burn Ratio 2
Short Name LC8NBR2, LE7NBR2, LT5NBR2, or LT4NBR2
File Name *_sr_nbr2.tif
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 — 10,000
Fill Value Collection 2: -19999 Collection 1: -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

Data Access

Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived NBR2 are produced on-demand, using the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) On Demand Interface

Visit the Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived Spectral Indices page for information on product contraints, citation, and reference information.