Pre-launch Absolute Radiometric Calibration of LANDSAT-4 Protoflight Thematic Mapper
From both scientific and applications perspectives, the usefulness of TM digital imagery is significantly determined by its radiometric characteristics. This includes both the accuracy to which the dynamic range is known and its radiometric reproducibility or precision. Results from several pre-launch tests with a 122-cm Integrating Sphere (IS) used as part of the absolute radiometric calibration experiments for the protoflight TM sensor carried on the LANDSAT-4 satellite are summarized and analyzed. Topics covered include TM radiometric calibration and sensitivity; the TM internal calibrator; and the dynamic range after calibration.