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Band Combinations for Landsat 8


bykevin_butleronJuly24,2013

1638

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44.4K

Landsat8hasbeenonlineforacoupleofmonthsnow,andtheimageslookincredible.Whileallofthe
bandsfrompreviousLandsatmissionsarestillincorporated,thereareacoupleofnewones,suchasthe
coastalbluebandwaterpenetration/aerosoldetectionandthecirruscloudbandforcloudmaskingand
otherapplications.HeresarundownofsomecommonbandcombinationsappliedtoLandsat8,
displayedasared,green,blue(RGB):
NaturalColor

432

FalseColor(urban)

764

ColorInfrared(vegetation)

543

Agriculture

652

AtmosphericPenetration

765

HealthyVegetation

562

Land/Water

564

NaturalWithAtmosphericRemoval

753

ShortwaveInfrared

754

VegetationAnalysis

654

HereshowthenewbandsfromLandsat8lineupwithLandsat7:
Landsat7

Landsat8

Band

Bandwidth

Resolution

Name

(m)

(m)

BandName

Band1

Bandwidth

Resolution

(m)

(m)

0.430.45

30

Coastal
Band1

0.450.52

30

Band2Blue

0.450.51

30

0.520.60

30

Band3

0.530.59

30

0.640.67

30

Blue
Band2
Green
Band3
Red

Green
0.630.69

30

Band4Red

Band4

0.770.90

30

Band5NIR

0.850.88

30

1.551.75

30

Band6

1.571.65

30

2.112.29

30

Band8Pan

0.500.68

15

Band9

1.361.38

30

Band10

10.6

100

TIRS1

11.19

Band11

11.5

TIRS2

12.51

NIR
Band5
SWIR1

SWIR1

Band7

2.092.35

30

SWIR2

Band7
SWIR2

Band8

0.520.90

15

Pan

Cirrus
Band6

10.40

TIR

30/60

12.50

100

Forthemostpart,thebandslineupwithwhatwereusedto,withsomeminortweakingofthespectral
ranges.ThethermalinfraredbandfromLandsat7isnowsplitintotwobandsforLandsat8.Whereas
beforeyouhadonethermalbandthatwasacquiredat60mresolution(andresampledto30m)nowyou
haveincreasedspectralresolutionatthecostofspatialresolution.Itwouldntberemotesensingwithout
tradeoffs,right?
Thisentryw aspostedinImagery,Uncategorizedandtaggedbandcomposition,imagerylandsat8,Raster.Bookmarkthepermalink.

20 Comments
franzpcsays:
DoyouknowifIcanmakeaDEMwithBand8Pan?Howto
Thanks
July27,2013at11:51pm

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kevin_butlersays:
Shortanswerisno.Landsatwouldhavetohaveaforwardandbackwardlookingbandtogenerateastereoimagefordempurposes.All
ofitsbandsareatnadir.CheckoutAster(30mglobally)orSRTM(90mglobally).
July29,2013at7:44am

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joabelbsays:
HiKevin.Firstofallcongratulationsforthisexcellentpost.
IwouldliketoknowifESRIisplanningtoreleaseabasemapofLandsat8images(timeenabled).
Ijustsawsomethinglikethatinthiswebsitehttp://landsatlook.usgs.gov/.ItwouldbeawesometohavethisbasemaponmyArcGIS
Desktop
tks
July29,2013at8:19am

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kevin_butlersays:
Thankslookslikeitscomingsoon.Mightbeaquestionofgettingenoughqualitypasses,althoughthatsjustspeculationonmypart.
HeresablogpostfromJack(4thparagraphtalksaboutwhatyoureaskingfor).

http://blogs.esri.com/esri/esriinsider/2013/06/13/understandingourworldwithlandsatdataandarcgis/
July29,2013at8:38am

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alexanderwandlsays:
HiKevin,
IhaveaquestionconcerningthecalculationoftheNDVI.switchingthebands3to4and4to5intheimageanalysesextensiondoesnt
providereasonableresults,anyadvice?
Thanks
Alex
July30,2013at10:35am

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kevin_butlersays:
HiAlex,
Ithinkyouveidentifiedthenormalizeddifferencebuiltupindex.Urbanareas/impervioussurfacesshouldpopoutwhenyouusethat
index.Theresablogfromacoupleofweeksagoaboutit.
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2013/07/03/leveragingndvitocalculateotherindicesinimageanalysiswindow/
July30,2013at11:42am

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kevin_butlersays:
Thatsassumingyoureusinglandsat7orlandsat5.
July30,2013at11:42am

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horizonswebsays:
HowcanIcombinetheLandsat8bandsinArcGIS10.1?
September12,2013at8:39am

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kevin_butlersays:
IfyoureworkingwithoneLandsatscene,loadallofthebandsontoyourmap.FromtheImageAnalysisWindow,selectallofthemand
thenclickthecompositebandsfunctionintheprocessingpane.
Ifyouhavemultiplescenes,theeasiestwaytodothiswithoutscriptinganythingistocreateamosaicdatasetofeachbandandthen
usecompositebandsoneachofthemosaicdatasets.
September12,2013at9:00am

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Williamsays:
Hello
MayIaskwhatisthebestbandcombinationtodisplayascenewherethelandcoverincludesforest,baresoil,cropsandurbanareas
February13,2014at9:01am

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kevin_butlersays:
Ifthetruecolorcompositedoesntworkforyou,Iwouldtrysomethingalongthelinesof764.Bands2or3couldalsoworkintheblue
band.Ifthevegetationisntsufficientlyhighlighted,tryswitchingthegreenbandfrom6to5.
February18,2014at10:41am

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naveenjayannasays:
HowtoLayerStackLandsat8bands
plzrespondsoon
Thankyou
April7,2014at10:03pm

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kevin_butlersays:
Askandyoushallreceive.Iwroteablogjustforyou:
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/?p=36875

Neverunderestimatethepowerofthewordsplz,please,andthankyou.
April8,2014at9:05am

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gauravhegde24says:
HelloKevin,
Ineededguidelinesonhowaparticularobject/classlookslikeinvariousbandcombinationsforlandsatimages.
forexamplecroplooksbrightred,fallowlandlooksyelowinfcc..
Ineedthisforimageclassification.HopeIcangetsomereferenceforallmajorbandcombinations.
April23,2014at8:16am

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kevin_butlersays:
Ihatetobreakittoyou,butitsreallynotthatsimple.Thereareatonoffactorsthatgointohowfeatureslook,andifyouwanttodoa
classification,metellingyouthatvegetationisbrightintheNIRisnotgoingtogetyouwhereyouwanttobe.Mysuggestionisloadup
theimagerybasemapfromArcgisOnlineandusethatasareference.Somestuffmayhavechangedifthereisabigdifferenceinwhen
thelandsatimageryandthehighresimagerywasacquired,butmostthingsareconsistent.Whenyouseeafeaturethatyoure
interestedin,startplayingwiththebandcombinationsandgetafeelforhowthosefeatureschangeasyouchangetheband
combinations.Whatareyouclassifyingfor?
April23,2014at9:18am

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gauravhegde24says:
ThanksforthesuggestionsKevin.
IamtryingtoclassifyaLandsat8imagetodetecttemporalchangesinaminingarea.
IamtryingtofigureouthowtobesureaboutsignaturepixelsIchoose..
Regards,
Gaurav
April23,2014at12:38pm

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kevin_butlersays:
Youwontbesureaboutyourtrainingsitesuntilyouactuallyruntheclassification.Ittendstobeaniterativeprocessthatinvolves
alotoftweakingtothetrainingsitesuntilyouaresatisfiedwiththeoutput.Startwithpixelsthatseemrepresentativeofthefeature
youwanttoclassify.Iftheyaretoopureyoullmissclassifysomeofthemixedpixels.Iftheyretoomixedyoullmissoutonthe
pixelsthatonlyhavethatfeature.Itbecomesasmuchofanartasscienceatthispoint.
IfyouusetheMLClassifyfunction(fromtheimageanalysiswindow,notthegeoprocessingtool)itwilldisplayyourresultsonthe
fly.IfindthatthissavestimewhenImgoingthroughandtryingtoperfectaclassification.
April23,2014at2:45pm

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mervynlottersays:
HiKevin
TwoquestionsifImay,(1)usingthenewsegmentationfunctionalityin10.3andArcGISPro,Iwouldliketobetterunderstandthethe
spatialdetailproperties.Readingthehelpfilesuggeststhatitissimilartospectraldetail(whichIdounderstand).Couldyoupleasetryand
differentiatebetweenthemformeoratleastexpandonthespatialdetail?And(2)withsegmentationIamlimitedto3bandsinthe
analysis,which3bandswouldyourecommendforclassificationofvegetationcommunities?654?
Loveyourwork
Cheers
Mervyn
December17,2014at11:28am

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kevin_butlersays:
HiMervyn,
Greatquestion!Itsasubtlenuance.Basically,spatialdetailisusedwhenyouhaveaverymixedscene.Forexample,inanurban
scene,youcouldclassifyanimpervioussurfaceusingasmallerspatialdetail,oryoucouldclassifybuildingsandroadsasseparate
classesusingahigherspatialdetail.Soyouhavelotsofdifferentfeaturesandyouwanttorecognizethemasdifferent.Ifyoulowerthe

spatialvalue,youwillgetasmootheroutput.
Spectraldetailisusedtodifferentiatebetweenfeaturesthatareclosetogetherandspectrallysimilar.Lookingataforestandwantto
pickouttreespecies?Setthistoahighvalue.
Asforthebands,nearinfraredandshortwaveinfraredaregoingtogiveyouthemostinformationaboutthevegetation.Thethirdband
dependsontheotherdominantfeaturesinyourimage.Dontworryaboutwater,butifyouhavealotofsoil,youmightwanttotrythe
redband.
Lifeprotip:Zoominto1:1andusetherasterfunctiontospotcheckyoursegmentsbeforerunningthegeoprocessingtool.Youdonot
wanttorunthisfunctiononanentireLandsatscene!Unlessofcourse,yougetpaidbythehourandcanlogcomputationaltime.The
waytodothisiszoomintoanareaofinterestata1:1resolutionandthenapplythesegmentationfunction.Tweakthespectraland
spatialparametersaccordingly.Then,turnthatlayeroffinthetableofcontents.Movetoanotherareaandrepeatuntilyourehappy
withthespectralandspatialdetaillevels.Thenrunthegeoprocessingtooltocreatethesegmentedimagethatyouwillusefor
classification.
December17,2014at12:09pm

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aryan1992says:
HowcanwederivethevegetationindicesforLandsat8data?
May23,2015at12:16pm

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