Cross-Calibration of the Current Landsat Sensors with Foreign Landsat-Class Sensors for Long-Term Monitoring of Land Surface Processes

Project Start Date

06/01/2008

Project End Date

05/31/2010

Project Call Name

Earth Observing System

Science Theme Name

Detection and Monitoring of LCLUC

Observations and Data

Regional_Initiative_Name

GOFC-GOLD Regional Networks

Region

Global

Solicitation

LCLUC-07

Team Members:

Person Name	Person role on project	Affiliation
Gyanesh Chander	Principal Investigator	USGS, Sioux Falls, United States

Abstract

The goal of this proposal is to extend our theoretical and applied understanding of radiometric cross-calibration of multiple sensors in support of continued long-term studies of the Earth’s land surfaces. Particular emphasis will be placed on the cross-calibration of the Landsat 5 (L5) Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 (L7) Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) sensors with the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Payload (IRS-P6) Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) and Linear Imaging Self-Scanner (LISS-III) sensors, both potential sources of data to help fill the pending Landsat data gap. This proposal builds on the well-established abilities in radiometric calibration of key research groups at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Landsat Project Science Office (LPSO) and South Dakota State University (SDSU). Three activities are proposed. First, the major focus is to rigorously perform the cross-calibration between the L5/7 and the IRS-P6 sensors. To facilitate this cross-calibration, a tool set will be developed, including coincident imaging and spectral simulation tools. Second, the uncertainties inherent in the cross-calibration process will be quantified. These include error sources such as differing spectral profiles, spatial and radiometric resolution differences, geometric registration, Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) effects from differing view and illumination angles, and atmospheric effects. The results from this sensitivity study will provide a theoretical lower error bound for sensor cross-calibration and provide a basis for the sensitivity of cross-calibration to these various factors. Last, to validate the cross-calibration approach, the suitability of IRS sensors for land cover applications (e.g., land-cover mapping, quantifying fractional landscape components, and land change analysis) will be evaluated. The comparability of results from primary data gap candidates with legacy Landsat-based land cover datasets will be analyzed. In an era when the number of Earth-observing satellites is rapidly growing and measurements from these sensors are used to answer increasingly urgent global issues, it is imperative that scientists and decision-makers can rely on the accuracy of Earth-observing data products. The proposed work supports NASAs long-term commitment to Land Remote Sensing by specifically creating a bridge between the calibration record of current Landsat sensors and the upcoming LDCM sensor, as well as providing tools and techniques applicable to other current and future sensors. This project will develop a reliable, low-cost method for continual monitoring of data quality from multiple satellites, and provide assessments of the impact of this improved knowledge in real, ongoing scientific applications.

Project Documents

Chander, G., Choi, T., Angal, A., Xiong, X., Helder, D., “Monitoring the long term stability of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor using the Sonoran and RVPN sites,” in Proc. SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium, Vol. 7862, 78620K, Incheon, Korea, October 10 – 15, 2010.

Chander, G., Coan, M.J., Scaramuzza, P.L., “Evaluation and Comparison of the IRS-P6 and the Landsat Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 209–221, Jan. 2008.

Chander, G., Killough, B., Gowda, S, Qu, M., Bowes, A., Cornelius, D., Stover, S., “An Overview of the Web-Based Google Earth Coincident Imaging Tool” in Proc. IGARSS Int. Symp., Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 25 – 30, 2010.

Chander, G., Markham, B.L., Helder, D.L., “Summary of Current Radiometric Calibration Coefficients for Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+, and EO-1 ALI Sensors”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 113, 893 – 903, 2009.

Chander, G., Mishra, N., Helder, D.L., Aaron, A., Angal, A., Choi, T., Xiong, X., “Spectral Issues with Cross-Calibration,” Remote Sensing of Environment. (In review).

Chander, G., Xiong, X., Angal, A., Choi, T., “Cross-comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor with the L5 TM, L7 ETM+, & Terra MODIS sensors,” in Proc. SPIE Europe Remote Sensing, Vol. 7474, 74740Z-1, Berlin, Germany, 31 Aug – 3 Sep, 2009.

Chen, X., Chander, G., Vogelmann, J., Ji, L., “Comparison of Landsat 5 TM and IRS-P6 AWiFS images for Landsat Data gap studies” in Proc. ASPRS 2010 Fall Conference, Orlando, Florida, November 15 – 18, 2010.

Chen, X., Vogelmann, J., Chander, G., Rollins, M., Ji, L., Tolk, B., Huang, C., “Comparison of Landsat 5 TM and IRS-P6 AWiFS images for LANDFIRE disturbance change detection,” Remote Sensing of Environment. (Submitted).

Evaluation and Comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS and the Landsat Sensors

G. Chander, A. Sampath, A. Angal, T. Choi, and X. Xiong, "Monitoring the long term stability of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor using the sonoran and RVPN sites," presented at the Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, Incheon, 2010.

G. Chander, B. Killough, and S. Gowda, "An overview of the web-based Google Earth coincident imaging tool," presented at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Honolulu, HI, 2010.

G. Chander, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, N. Mishra, and A. Shrestha, "An assessment of Spectral, Mis-registration, and Spatial Uncertainties Inherent in the Cross-calibration Study," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, submitted.

G. Chander, M. J. Coan, and P. L. Scaramuzza, "Evaluation and comparison of the IRS-P6 and the Landsat sensors," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 209-221, 2008.

G. Chander, N. Mishra, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, A. Angal, T. Choi, X. Xiong, and D. Doelling, "Applications and Limitations of Spectral Band Adjustment Factors (SBAF) for Cross-calibration," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.

G. Chander, N. Mishra, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, T. Choi, A. Angal, and X. Xiong, "Use of EO-1 hyperion data to calculate spectral band adjustment factors (SBAF) between the L7 ETM+ and terra MODIS sensors," presented at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Honolulu, HI, 2010.

G. Chander, T. J. Hewison, N. Fox, X. Wu, X. Xiong, and W. Blackwell, "Overview of Inter-Calibration of Satellite Instruments," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.

G. Chander, X. Xiong, A. Angal, T. Choi, and R. Malla, "Cross-comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor with the L5 TM, L7 ETM+, & Terra MODIS sensors," Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 7474, 2009.

Land Surface Imaging (LSI) Constellation Study Team

P. D. Kessler, B. D. Killough, S. Gowda, B. R. Williams, G. Chander, and M. Qu, "An Analysis and Visualization Tool for Inter-Calibration of Satellite Instruments,"IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.

P. M. Teillet, J. A. Barsi, G. Chander, and K. J. Thome, "Prime candidate Earth targets for the post-launch radiometric calibration of space-based optical imaging instruments," in Proceedings of SPIE, Earth Observing Systems XII, San Diego, CA, 2007, p. 66770S.

S. N. Goward, G. Chander, M. Pagnutti, A. Marx, R. Ryan, N. Thomas, and R. Tetrault, "Complementarity of ResourceSat-1 AWiFS and Landsat TM/ETM+ Sensors," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.

X. Chen, J. E. Vogelmann, G. Chander, M. Rollins, L. Ji, B. Tolk, and C. Huang, "Cross-sensor comparisons between Landsat 5 TM and IRSP6 AWiFS images for LANDFIRE disturbance detection,"International Journal of Remote Sensing,Submitted.

Xiong, X., Cao, C., Chander, G., “An Overview of Sensor Calibration Inter-comparison and Applications,” Frontiers of Earth Science in China, DOI 10.1007/s11707-010-0002-z, Dec. 2009.

Project Documents

Year	Type	Title
2011	Publications	Chen, X., Vogelmann, J., Chander, G., Rollins, M., Ji, L., Tolk, B., Huang, C., “Comparison of Landsat 5 TM and IRS-P6 AWiFS images for LANDFIRE disturbance change detection,” Remote Sensing of Environment. (Submitted).
2011	Publications	Chander, G., Mishra, N., Helder, D.L., Aaron, A., Angal, A., Choi, T., Xiong, X., “Spectral Issues with Cross-Calibration,” Remote Sensing of Environment. (In review).
2010	Publications	Chander, G., Killough, B., Gowda, S, Qu, M., Bowes, A., Cornelius, D., Stover, S., “An Overview of the Web-Based Google Earth Coincident Imaging Tool” in Proc. IGARSS Int. Symp., Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 25 – 30, 2010.
2010	Publications	Chen, X., Chander, G., Vogelmann, J., Ji, L., “Comparison of Landsat 5 TM and IRS-P6 AWiFS images for Landsat Data gap studies” in Proc. ASPRS 2010 Fall Conference, Orlando, Florida, November 15 – 18, 2010.
2010	Publications	G. Chander, B. Killough, and S. Gowda, "An overview of the web-based Google Earth coincident imaging tool," presented at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Honolulu, HI, 2010.
2010	Publications	G. Chander, N. Mishra, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, T. Choi, A. Angal, and X. Xiong, "Use of EO-1 hyperion data to calculate spectral band adjustment factors (SBAF) between the L7 ETM+ and terra MODIS sensors," presented at the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Honolulu, HI, 2010.
2010	Publications	G. Chander, A. Sampath, A. Angal, T. Choi, and X. Xiong, "Monitoring the long term stability of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor using the sonoran and RVPN sites," presented at the Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, Incheon, 2010.
2010	NASA LCLUC Science Team Presentation	Land Surface Imaging (LSI) Constellation Study Team
2010	Publications	Chander, G., Choi, T., Angal, A., Xiong, X., Helder, D., “Monitoring the long term stability of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor using the Sonoran and RVPN sites,” in Proc. SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium, Vol. 7862, 78620K, Incheon, Korea, October 10 – 15, 2010.
2010	NASA LCLUC Science Team Presentation	Evaluation and Comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS and the Landsat Sensors
2009	Publications	Chander, G., Markham, B.L., Helder, D.L., “Summary of Current Radiometric Calibration Coefficients for Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+, and EO-1 ALI Sensors”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 113, 893 – 903, 2009.
2009	Publications	Xiong, X., Cao, C., Chander, G., “An Overview of Sensor Calibration Inter-comparison and Applications,” Frontiers of Earth Science in China, DOI 10.1007/s11707-010-0002-z, Dec. 2009.
2009	Publications	Chander, G., Xiong, X., Angal, A., Choi, T., “Cross-comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor with the L5 TM, L7 ETM+, & Terra MODIS sensors,” in Proc. SPIE Europe Remote Sensing, Vol. 7474, 74740Z-1, Berlin, Germany, 31 Aug – 3 Sep, 2009.
2009	Publications	G. Chander, X. Xiong, A. Angal, T. Choi, and R. Malla, "Cross-comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor with the L5 TM, L7 ETM+, & Terra MODIS sensors," Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 7474, 2009.
2008	Publications	Chander, G., Coan, M.J., Scaramuzza, P.L., “Evaluation and Comparison of the IRS-P6 and the Landsat Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 209–221, Jan. 2008.
2008	Publications	G. Chander, M. J. Coan, and P. L. Scaramuzza, "Evaluation and comparison of the IRS-P6 and the Landsat sensors," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 209-221, 2008.
2007	Publications	P. M. Teillet, J. A. Barsi, G. Chander, and K. J. Thome, "Prime candidate Earth targets for the post-launch radiometric calibration of space-based optical imaging instruments," in Proceedings of SPIE, Earth Observing Systems XII, San Diego, CA, 2007, p. 66770S.
	Publications	G. Chander, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, N. Mishra, and A. Shrestha, "An assessment of Spectral, Mis-registration, and Spatial Uncertainties Inherent in the Cross-calibration Study," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, submitted.
	Publications	G. Chander, T. J. Hewison, N. Fox, X. Wu, X. Xiong, and W. Blackwell, "Overview of Inter-Calibration of Satellite Instruments," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.
	Publications	P. D. Kessler, B. D. Killough, S. Gowda, B. R. Williams, G. Chander, and M. Qu, "An Analysis and Visualization Tool for Inter-Calibration of Satellite Instruments,"IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.
	Publications	G. Chander, N. Mishra, D. L. Helder, D. Aaron, A. Angal, T. Choi, X. Xiong, and D. Doelling, "Applications and Limitations of Spectral Band Adjustment Factors (SBAF) for Cross-calibration," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.
	Publications	X. Chen, J. E. Vogelmann, G. Chander, M. Rollins, L. Ji, B. Tolk, and C. Huang, "Cross-sensor comparisons between Landsat 5 TM and IRSP6 AWiFS images for LANDFIRE disturbance detection,"International Journal of Remote Sensing,Submitted.
	Publications	S. N. Goward, G. Chander, M. Pagnutti, A. Marx, R. Ryan, N. Thomas, and R. Tetrault, "Complementarity of ResourceSat-1 AWiFS and Landsat TM/ETM+ Sensors," IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Submitted.