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NASA NTRS2011

Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is currently under development and is on schedule to launch the 8th satellite in the Landsat series in December of 2012. LDCM is a joint project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). NASA is responsible for developing and launching the flight hardware and on-orbit commissioning and USGS is responsible for developing the ground system and operating the system onorbit after commissioning. Key components of the flight hardware are the Operational Land Imager (OLI), nearing completion by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp in Boulder, CO, the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the spacecraft, undergoing integration at Orbital Sciences Corp in Gilbert, Arizona. The launch vehicle will be an Atlas-5 with launch services provided by NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Key ground systems elements are the Mission Operations Element, being developed by the Hammers Corporation, and the Collection Activity Planning Element, Ground Network Element, and Data Processing and Archive System, being developed internally by the USGS Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS) Center. The primary measurement goal of LDCM is to continue the global coverage of moderate spatial resolution imagery providing continuity with the existing Landsat record. The science goal for this imagery is to monitor land use and land cover, particularly as it relates to global climate change. Together the OLI and TIRS instruments on LDCM replace the ETM+ instrument on Landsat-7 with significant enhancements. The OLI is a pushbroom design instrument where the scanning mechanism of the ETM+ is effectively replaced by a long line of detectors. The OLI has 9 spectral bands with similar spatial resolution to ETM+: 7 of them similar to the reflective spectral bands on ETM+ and two new bands. The two new bands cover (1) the shorter wavelength blue part of the spectrum to help with coastal studies and aerosol analyses/atmospheric correction and (2) an atmospheric water absorption band, where the Earth surface is generally not visible, but Cirrus clouds are, to aid in cloud detection and screening. The radiometry of OLI benefits from improved SNR, dynamic range and quantization. OLI is undergoing system testing with a delivery scheduled for Spring 2011. The TIRS is also a pushbroom design and used QWIPS detectors that require cooling to 43K using a cryocooler. It.has two spectral bands, effectively splitting the ETM+ band 6 in half, that can be used as a split window to aid in atmospheric correction. It has nominally 100 m spatial resolution as opposed to the 60 m of Landsat-7 ETM+: TIRS has commenced integration and test, with a delivery to the spacecraft vendor scheduled for Winter 2011-2012. The Orbital spacecraft currently being integrated for LDCM will have improved capabilities for pointing over previous missions. These capabilities will allow the OLI and TIRS instruments to point off-nadir the equivalent of one WRS-2 path to increase the chances of coverage for high priority targets, particularly in the event of natural disasters. Also, the pointing capability will allow the calibration of the OLI using the sun (roughly weekly), the moon (monthly), stars (during commissioning) and the Earth (at 90 deg from normal orientation, a.k.a., side slither) quarterly. The solar calibration will be used for OLI absolute and relative calibration, the moon for trending the stability of the OLI response, the stars will be used for Line of Sight determination and the side slither will be an alternate OLI and relative gain determination methodology. The spacecraft is scheduled to begin integration with the OLI instrument in Summer 2011. The LDCM data processing and archive system (DPAS), located at USGS EROS, generates the products for distribution to users. Like Landsat-7 this includes an image assessment system for characrizing instrument performance and updating calibration parameters. Products will be generated that include the spectral bands from both instruments, terrain corrected and registered to the geoid. Also, like Landsat-7, data products will be distributed at no charge to the user. The current status and plans of the space and ground segments of the LDCM project will be presented along with performance predictions as available. More detailed information on the two instruments is intended to be presented in separate papers.

Markham, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Thermal Infrared Sensor on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a joint NASA and USGS mission, is scheduled for launch in December, 2012. The LDCM instrument payload will consist of the Operational Land Imager (OLI), provided by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC} under contract to NASA and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This paper outlines the design of the TIRS instrument and gives an example of its application to monitoring water consumption by measuring evapotranspiration.

Reuter, Dennis↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a joint NASA and United States Geological Survey (USGS) mission, is scheduled for launch in December, 2012. The LDCM instrument payload will consist of the Operational Land Imager (OLI), provided by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC) under contract to NASA and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This paper will describe the design, capabilities and status of the OLI and TIRS instruments. The OLI will provide 8 channel multispectral images at a spatial resolution of 30 meters and panchromatic images at 15 meter spatial resolution. The TIRS is a 100 meter spatial resolution push-broom imager whose two spectral channels, centered at 10.8 and 12 microns, split the ETM+ thermal bands. The two channels allow the use of the "split-window" technique to aid in atmospheric correction. The TIRS focal plane consists of three Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays to span the 185 km swath width. The OLI and TIRS instruments will be operated independently but in concert with each other. Data from both instruments will be merged into a single data stream at the (USGS)/Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) facility. The ground system, being developed by USGS, includes an Image Assessment System (lAS), similar to Landsat-7's, to operationally monitor, characterize and update the calibrations of the two sensors.

Reuter, Dennis↗
NASA NTRS2011

Calibration of the Thermal Infrared Sensor on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat series of satellites provides the longest running continuous data set of moderate-spatial-resolution imagery beginning with the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972 and continuing with the 1999 launch of Landsat 7 and current operation of Landsats 5 and 7. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) will continue this program into a fourth decade providing data that are keys to understanding changes in land-use changes and resource management. LDCM consists of a two-sensor platform comprised of the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensors (TIRS). A description of the applications and design of the TIRS instrument is given as well as the plans for calibration and characterization. Included are early results from preflight calibration and a description of the inflight validation.

Thome, K↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Next Landsat Satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat program is one of the longest running satellite programs for Earth observations from space. The program was initiated by the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972. Since then a series of six more Landsat satellites were launched and at least one of those satellites has been in operations at all times to continuously collect images of the global land surface. The Department of Interior (DOI) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) preserves data collected by all of the Landsat satellites at their Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This 40-year data archive provides an unmatched record of the Earth's land surface that has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades due to the increasing pressure of a growing population and advancing technologies. EROS provides the ability for anyone to search the archive and order digital Landsat images over the internet for free. The Landsat data are a public resource for observing, characterizing, monitoring, trending, and predicting land use change over time providing an invaluable tool for those addressing the profound consequences of those changes to society. The most recent launch of a Landsat satellite occurred in 1999 when Landsat 7 was placed in orbit. While Landsat 7 remains in operation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the DOI/ USGS are building its successor satellite system currently called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). NASA has the lead for building and launching the satellite that will carry two Earth-viewing instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The OLI will take images that measure the amount of sunlight reflected by the land surface at nine wavelengths of light with three of those wavelengths beyond the range of human vision. T1RS will collect coincident images that measure light emitted by the land surface as a function of surface temperature at two longer wavelengths well beyond the range of human vision. The DOI/USGS is developing the ground system that will command and control the LDCM satellite in orbit and manage the OLI and TIRS data transmitted by the satellite. DOI/USGS will thus operate the satellite and collect, archive, and distribute the image data as part of the EROS archive. DOI/USGS has committed to renaming LDCM as Landsat 8 following launch. By either name the satellite and its sensors will extend the 40-year archive with images sufficiently consistent with data from earlier Landsat satellites to allow multi-decadal, broad-area studies of our dynamic landscapes. The next Landsat satellite and ground system are on schedule for a January, 2013 launch.

Rons, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

An Overview of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The advent of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), currently with a launch readiness date of December, 2012, will see evolutionary changes in the Landsat data products available from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. The USGS initiated a revolution in 2009 when EROS began distributing Landsat data products at no cost to requestors in contrast to the past practice of charging the cost of fulfilling a request; that is, charging $600 per Landsat scene. To implement this drastic change, EROS terminated data processing options for requestors and began to produce all data products using a consistent processing recipe. EROS plans to continue this practice for the LDCM and will required new algorithms to process data from the LDCM sensors. All previous Landsat satellites flew multispectral scanners to collect image data of the global land surface. Additionally, Landsats 4, 5, and 7 flew sensors that acquired imagery for both reflective spectral bands and a single thermal band. In contrast, the LDCM will carry two pushbroom sensors; the Operational Land Imager (OLI) for reflective spectral bands and the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) for two thermal bands. EROS is developing the ground data processing system that will both calibrate and correct the data from the thousands of detectors employed by the pushbroom sensors and that will also combine the data from the two sensors to create a single data product with registered data for all of the OLI and TIRS bands.

Irons, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Landsat Data Continuity Mission Expected Instrument Performance

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is scheduled for a December 2012 launch date. LDCM is being managed by an interagency partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In order to provide the necessary spectral coverage of the visible through shortwave-infrared (SWIR) and the thermal-infrared (TIR), the satellite will carry two sensors. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) will collect data for nine visible to shortwave spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 30 m (with a 15 m panchromatic band). The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will collect coincident image data for two TIR bands with a spatial resolution of 100 m. The OLI is fully assembled and tested and has been shipped by it's manufacturer, Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation, to the Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) facility where it is being integrated onto the LDCM spacecraft. Pre-launch testing indicates that OLI will meet all performance specification with margin. TIRS is in development at the NASA Goddard Space F!ight Center (GSFC) and is in final testing before shipping to the Orbital facility in January, 2012. The presentation will describe the LDCM satellite instrument systems, present pre-launch performance data for OLI and TIRS, and present simulated images to highlight notable features and expected imaging performance.

Dabney, Philip W.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Flight Dynamics System (FDS)

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) will be launched in January 2013 to continue the legacy of Landsat land imagery collection that has been on-going for the past 40 years. While the overall mission and science goals are designed to produce the SAME data over the years, the ground systems designed to support the mission objectives have evolved immensely. The LDCM Flight Dynamics System (FDS) currently being tested and deployed for operations is highly automated and well integrated with the other ground system elements. The FDS encompasses the full suite of flight dynamics functional areas, including orbit and attitude determination and prediction, orbit and attitude maneuver planning and execution, and planning product generation. The integration of the orbit, attitude, maneuver, and products functions allows a very smooth flow for daily operations support with minimal input needed from the operator. The system also provides a valuable real-time component that monitors the on-board orbit and attitude during every ground contact and will autonomously alert the Flight Operations Team (FOT) personnel when any violations are found. This paper provides an overview of the LDCM Flight Dynamics System and a detailed description of how it is used to support space operations. For the first time on a Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)-managed mission, the ground attitude and orbits systems are fully integrated into a cohesive package. The executive engine of the FDS permits three levels of automation: low, medium, and high. The high-level, which will be the standard mode for LDCM, represents nearly lights-out operations. The paper provides an in-depth look at these processes within the FDS in support of LDCM in all mission phases.

Good, Susan M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager (OLI) Sensor

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is being developed by NASA and USGS and is currently planned for launch in January 2013 [1]. Once on-orbit and checked out, it will be operated by USGS and officially named Landsat-8. Two sensors will be on LDCM: the Operational Land Imager (OLI), which has been built and delivered by Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp (BATC) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)[2], currently being built and tested at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) with a planned delivery of Winter 2012. The OLI covers the Visible, Near-IR (NIR) and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) parts of the spectrum; TIRS covers the Thermal Infrared (TIR). This paper discusses only the OLI instrument and its pre-launch characterization; a companion paper covers TIRS.

Markham, Brian L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Status of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Efforts to begin implementing a successor mission to Landsat 7, called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), suffered a set back in 2003. NASA and the Department of Interior (DOI)/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) currently manage the Landsat Program as an interagency partnership. The two agencies had planned to purchase data meeting LDCM specifications from a privately owned and commercially operated satellite system beginning in March, 2007. This approach represented a departure from the traditional procurement of a government owned and operated satellite system. NASA, however, cancelled a Request-for-Proposals (RFP) for providing the required data after an evaluation of proposals received from private industry. NASA concluded that the proposals failed to meet a key objective and expectation of the RFP, namely, to form a fair and equitable partnership between the Government and private industry. Alternative strategies for implementing an LDCM are now under consideration. The Executive Office of the President formed an interagency working group on the LDCM following the RFP cancellation. The working group is considering other options for implementing a successor system to Landsat 7 consistent with the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-555). This Act lists four management options for consideration: 1) private sector funding and management; 2) an international consortium; 3) funding and management by the U.S. Government; and 4) a cooperative effort between the US. Government and the private sector. The working group is currently attempting to minimize the risk of a Landsat data gap through development of a strategy that leads to a Landsat 7 successor mission. The selected strategy and the status of the mission will be presented at the Symposium.

Irons, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Landsat Data Continuity Mission Calibration and Validation

The primary payload for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the Operational Land Imager (OLI), being built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies, under contract to NASA. The OLI has spectral bands similar to the Landsat-7 ETM+, minus the thermal band and with two new bands, a 443 nm band and 1375 nm cirrus detection band. On-board calibration systems include two solar diffusers (routine and pristine), a shutter and three sets of internal lamps (routine, backup and pristine). Being a pushbroom opposed to a whiskbroom design of ETM+, the system poses new challenges for characterization and calibration, chief among them being the large focal plane with 75000+ detectors. A comprehensive characterization and calibration plan is in place for the instrument and the data throughout the mission including Ball, NASA and the United States Geological Survey, which will take over operations of LDCM after on-orbit commissioning. Driving radiometric calibration requirements for OLI data include radiance calibration to 5% uncertainty (1 q); reflectance calibration to 3% uncertainty (1 q) and relative (detector-to-detector) calibration to 0.5% (J (r). Driving geometric calibration requirements for OLI include bandto- band registration of 4.5 meters (90% confidence), absolute geodetic accuracy of 65 meters (90% CE) and relative geodetic accuracy of 25 meters (90% CE). Key spectral, spatial and radiometric characterization of the OLI will occur in thermal vacuum at Ball Aerospace. During commissioning the OLI will be characterized and calibrated using celestial (sun, moon, stars) sources and terrestrial sources. The USGS EROS ground processing system will incorporate an image assessment system similar to Landsat-7 for characterization and calibration. This system will have the added benefit that characterization data will be extracted as part of the normal image data processing, so that the characterization data available will be significantly larger than for Landsat-7 ETM+.

Markham, Brian L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

An Operational Land Imager for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a request for proposals (RFP) on January 09, 2007 for an Operational Land Imager (OLI). The RFP specified the OLI as the principal sensor for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the successor mission to Landsat 7. The RFP provides requirements for OLI performance, special calibration tests, and mission assurance without specifying a particular technical design. The performance specifications derive from the heritage and societal benefits of data from the previous Landsat satellites, the high standards set by the performance of the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper-Plus, direction from the Executive Office of the President, cognizance of current technology, and an eye to the future of land remote sensing beyond the LDCM. The specification includes nine spectral bands (four visible, one near infrared, three shortwave infrared, and one panchromatic band), spatial resolution of 30 m with the exception of a 15 m panchromatic resolution, stringent radiometric performance and absolute calibration, and accurate image geolocation with precise band-to-band and multitemporal image-to-image registration. Proposals were due on February 23, 2007 with selection and contract award anticipated by June 2007. The RFP requires delivery of a well-characterized instrument for spacecraft integration within 39 months of contract award. This schedule leads to a target LDCM launch date of July, 2011.

Irons, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager (OLI) Radiometric Calibration

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) has a comprehensive radiometric characterization and calibration program beginning with the instrument design, and extending through integration and test, on-orbit operations and science data processing. Key instrument design features for radiometric calibration include dual solar diffusers and multi-lamped on-board calibrators. The radiometric calibration transfer procedure from NIST standards has multiple checks on the radiometric scale throughout the process and uses a heliostat as part of the transfer to orbit of the radiometric calibration. On-orbit lunar imaging will be used to track the instruments stability and side slither maneuvers will be used in addition to the solar diffuser to flat field across the thousands of detectors per band. A Calibration Validation Team is continuously involved in the process from design to operations. This team uses an Image Assessment System (IAS), part of the ground system to characterize and calibrate the on-orbit data.

Markham, Brian L.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Ascent and Operational Orbit Design

For the past 40-years, Landsat Satellites have collected Earth's continental data and enabled scientists to assess change in the Earth's landscape. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the next generation satellite supporting the Landsat science program. LDCM will fly a 16-day ground repeat cycle, Sun-synchronous, frozen orbit with a mean local time of the descending node ranging between 10:10 am and 10:15 am. This paper presents the preliminary ascent trajectory design from the injection orbit to its final operational orbit. The initial four burn ascent design is shown to satisfy all the LDCM mission goals and requirement and to allow for adequate flexibility in re-planning the ascent.

Mann, Laurie M.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Performance of the QWIP Focal Plane Arrays for NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The focal plane assembly for the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instrument on NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) consists of three 512 x 640 GaAs Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays. The three arrays are precisely mounted and aligned on a silicon carrier substrate to provide a continuous viewing swath of 1850 pixels in two spectral bands defined by filters placed in close proximity to the detector surfaces. The QWIP arrays are hybridized to Indigo ISC9803 readout integrated circuits (ROICs). QWIP arrays were evaluated from four laboratories; QmagiQ, (Nashua, NH), Army Research Laboratory, (Adelphi, MD}, NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center, (Greenbelt, MD) and Thales, (Palaiseau, France). All were found to be suitable. The final discriminating parameter was the spectral uniformity of individual pixels relative to each other. The performance of the QWIP arrays and the fully assembled, NASA flight-qualified, focal plane assembly will be reviewed. An overview of the focal plane assembly including the construction and test requirements of the focal plane will also be described.

Jhabvala, M.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Comparison of the EO-1 Advanced Land Imager Performance With the Landsat Data Continuity Mission Specification

The performance requirements for the Advanced Land Imager were developed under NASA's New Millennium Program and were intended to facilitate the validation of new sensor technologies and architectures for potential application in future remote sensing missions. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) was designed and flown well before the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) specifications were developed. Nevertheless, the science focus of the ALI technology validation was Landsat data continuity. Therefore, although exact compliance by ALI is not expected, the performance should demonstrate a path to a compliant sensor system. The performance of the ALI, as determined from preflight and flight data, is compared to the LDCM specification. Twenty-one noncompliances have been identified: four data collection, four spectral, six spatial, and seven radiometric (Table I). All but six of these are considered minor. The six major noncompliances are the result of stray light, leaky detectors, and contamination. Appendix A replicates the LDCM specification and contains ALI compliance notes where appropriate. Details of the ALI stray light, contamination, and leaky detectors are provided in Appendix B, C, and D respectively. Additional information pertaining to the calculation of the ALI edge response and coherent noise is presented in Appendix E and F. A list of ALI related publications is provided in Appendix G.

Mendenhall, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission Operational Land Imager: Radiometric Performance

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is one of two instruments to fly on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), which is scheduled to launch in December 2012 to become the 8th in the series of Landsat satellites. The OLI images in the solar reflective part of the spectrum, with bands similar to bands 1-5, 7 and the panchromatic band on the Landsat-7 ETM+ instrument. In addition, it has a 20 nm bandpass spectral band at 443 nm for coastal and aerosol studies and a 30 nm band at 1375 nm to aid in cirrus cloud detection. Like ETM+, spatial resolution is 30 m in the all but the panchromatic band, which is 15 meters. OLI is a pushbroom radiometer with approximately 6000 detectors per 30 meter band as opposed to the 16 detectors per band on the whiskbroom ETM+. Data are quantized to 12 bits on OLI as opposed to 8 bits on ETM+ to take advantage of the improved signal to noise ratio provided by the pushbroom design. The saturation radiances are higher on OLI than ETM+ to effectively eliminate saturation issues over bright Earth targets. OLI includes dual solar diffusers for on-orbit absolute and relative (detector to detector) radiometric calibration. Additionally, OLI has 3 sets of on-board lamps that illuminate the OLI focal plane through the full optical system, providing additional checks on the OLI's response[l]. OLI has been designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. (BATC) and is currently undergoing testing and calibration in preparation for delivery in Spring 2011. Final pre-launch performance results should be available in time for presentation at the conference. Preliminary results will be presented below. These results are based on the performance of the Engineering Development Unit (EDU) that was radiometrically tested at the integrated instrument level in 2010 and assembly level measurements made on the flight unit. Signal-to-Noise (SNR) performance: One of the advantages of a pushbroom system is the increased dwell time of the detectors allowing for significantly higher SNR than equivalent aperture whiskbroom systems. OLI performance based on the EDU at the "typical" radiance level as specified in the OLI requirements document are about 10 times better than ETM+ performance and 2-3 times better than the requirements for OLI (Table 1).

Markham, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2011

Enhancing a Simple MODIS Cloud Mask Algorithm for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The presence of clouds in images acquired by the Landsat series of satellites is usually an undesirable, but generally unavoidable fact. With the emphasis of the program being on land imaging, the suspended liquid/ice particles of which clouds are made of fully or partially obscure the desired observational target. Knowing the amount and location of clouds in a Landsat scene is therefore valuable information for scene selection, for making clear-sky composites from multiple scenes, and for scheduling future acquisitions. The two instruments in the upcoming Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) will include new channels that will enhance our ability to detect high clouds which are often also thin in the sense that a large fraction of solar radiation can pass through them. This work studies the potential impact of these new channels on enhancing LDCM's cloud detection capabilities compared to previous Landsat missions. We revisit a previously published scheme for cloud detection and add new tests to capture more of the thin clouds that are harder to detect with the more limited arsenal channels. Since there are no Landsat data yet that include the new LDCM channels, we resort to data from another instrument, MODIS, which has these bands, as well as the other bands of LDCM, to test the capabilities of our new algorithm. By comparing our revised scheme's performance against the performance of the official MODIS cloud detection scheme, we conclude that the new scheme performs better than the earlier scheme which was not very good at thin cloud detection.

Wilson, Michael J.↗