Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Landsat 8 data explained


If you are new to satellite imagery, or not familiar yet with the capabilities of recently launched Landsat 8 satellite, a post by Charlie Loyd on mapbox.com blog explains in plain English how the data can be used. It’s a great read, illustrated with examples of what you get when you mix and match various “data streams” (ie. bands = colours, although not necessarily visible to human eye, represented by a specific frequency along the electromagnetic spectrum).

The 30 m resolution of Landsat 8 imagery (15m for black and white version) does not allow “peaking over the fence to your neighbour’s backyard” but it is a great source of timely information for all sorts of environmental analysis (eg. crop monitoring, determination of land characteristics)  and is very helpful in monitoring geographic extents of natural disasters (like floods or bushfires).

[Bands 7-5-1 combination revealing bushfire burn scar - bottom left ]

Landsat 8 data is available for download via:

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