Abstract:

As time goes by, the aged satellite sensors have made the original Calibration Parameter File (CPF) of the sensors become invalid. Typically the CPF of the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) was modified several times since its launch in 1984, and so did the CPF of Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+). Otherwise the accuracy of the image radiometric correction is not ensured. In this study, two scenes of Landsat TM and ETM+ images have been corrected using their CPFs issued in 2003 and 2009, respectively. These radiometricallycorrected images were then compared to see whether there was any difference between the correction results. The band-by-band comparison reveals that, except the green band of ETM+, the mean value of TM and ETM+ bands calculated with the 2009 CPF is less than that calculated with the 2003 CPF. This also has influenced on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and buildup index (IBI) computation. The difference in the mean value between the NDVIs calculated using the 2003 and 2009 CPFs amounts to 0.48%, while this figure between the IBIs can reach to 5.94%.

Key words: radiometric correction, calibration parameter file(CPF), IBI, NDVI, Landsat satellite, remote sensing