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April 30, 2025

The USGS/NASA Calibration/Validation Team has recently discovered that over 44,000 Landsat 2 and Landsat 3 Multispectral Sensor (MSS) Level-1 products were processed in 2020 with a calibration parameter file (CPF) that contained incorrect gain/offset values.

The incorrect values cause a slightly noticeable difference in the brightness (known as the digital number - DN) values of the pixels within an affected product—Band 4 and Band 5, specifically. The band data display higher or lower DN values than they should, resulting from the coefficient applied during Level-1 processing. 

Media
Two images with different brightness values
These images display Band 4 from Landsat 3 MSS acquired February 20, 1982. The left is the current product; the right image displays the corrected image.  

A solution to rectify this issue and apply the correct CPF to the affected products has been identified. After Landsat systems are updated with the solution, Level-1 products will be reprocessed.  An new headline will be posted when the products are reprocessed. 

Please visit the Landsat Collection 2 Known Issues webpage to access a list of the affected scenes.

 

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