Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

PRODUCT GUIDE

LANDSAT SURFACE REFLECTANCE-DERIVED

SPECTRAL INDICES

Version 3.5

April 2017
Executive Summary
This document describes relevant characteristics of the Spectral Indices products
derived from Landsat Surface Reflectance to facilitate use in the land remote sensing
community.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - ii - Version 3.5

Document History
Document Version Publication Date Change Description
Version 1.0 11/10/2013 Initial Draft

Version 1.1 12/01/2013 Revised after Peer Review

Version 1.2 12/17/2013 Corrected typographical error on page 15

Revised to accommodate new file format
Version 2.0 03/28/2014
options
Updated ESPA product access and product
Version 2.1 07/24/2014
packaging
Version 2.2 08/05/2014 Revised HDF file characteristics
Corrected typographical error in EVI
Version 2.3 09/16/2014
equation.
Added Provisional Landsat 8 Surface
Version 2.4 12/23/2014 Reflectance information (product guide
references, SI equation updates.)
Updated default EarthExplorer file format
output information. Replaced Appendix D
Version 2.5 03/06/2015
Metadata Fields with example directly from
XML metadata file.
Corrected typo in Landsat 8 Enhanced
Version 2.6 04/03/2015
Vegetation Index (EVI) equation.
Updated URLS in Source Products and
Version 2.7 6/26/2015 added L8SR comparison images. Revised
Data Access.
Corrected minor typos and revised the
formatting of citations. Added details
pertaining to values >+1.0 or <-1.0 being
set to 10000 and -10000, respectively.
Version 2.8 12/01/2015
Updated User Services section with
correct information. Updated File
Characteristics appendix to be more
accurate.
Fixed broken hyperlink to L8SR product
Version 2.9 03/01/2016 guide. Updated Default File Characteristics
(Appendix A).
Updated reference and links to Landsat 8
Surface Reflectance Code (LaSRC)
algorithm product and product guide. Added
Version 3.0 07/01/2016
unavailability notice of LaSRC products
between 2016-050 and 2016-058 due to
MODIS Terra safe mode.
Added NetCDF file format. Added
Version 3.1 10/07/2016 unavailable data range for L4-7 SR
products.
Version 3.2 12/07/2016 Replaced links to Landsat Missions Website
Corrected typographical error in EVI
Version 3.3 12/13/2016
formula

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - iii - Version 3.5

 Added Landsat Collection 1 examples in
product section(s) and appendices.
Removed Provisional from all Surface
Reflectance algorithms (C1 only.) Updated
Version 3.4 03/31/2017
caveats to reflect most up-to-date SR data
gap information found on Landsat website.
Added pixel_qa band (C1 only.) Updated
acknowledgements.
Removal of Pre-Collection Landsat
Version 3.5 04/06/2017
information.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - iv - Version 3.5

Contents
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... ii
Document History ........................................................................................................ iii
Contents ......................................................................................................................... 5
List of Tables ................................................................................................................. 6
List of Figures ............................................................................................................... 6
Section 1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 7
Section 2 Caveats and Constraints ......................................................................... 8
Section 3 Source Products .................................................................................... 10
Section 4 Product Access ...................................................................................... 12
Section 5 Product Packaging ................................................................................ 13
Section 6 Product Characteristics ........................................................................ 14
6.1 Vegetation Indices (VI) ..................................................................................... 14
6.1.1 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ...................................... 14
6.1.2 Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) ............................................................ 14
6.1.3 Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI)..................................................... 15
6.1.4 Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) ................................... 16
6.2 Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) ................................................. 16
6.3 Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) .......................................................................... 17
6.4 Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2) ..................................................................... 17
6.5 Pixel Quality Assurance ................................................................................... 18
Section 7 Citation Information ............................................................................... 20
Section 8 Acknowledgments ................................................................................. 21
Section 9 User Services ......................................................................................... 22
Section 10 References ............................................................................................. 23
Appendix A Default File Characteristics ................................................................... 25
Appendix B HDF File Characteristics ........................................................................ 26
Appendix C Binary File Characteristics .................................................................... 28
Appendix D Metadata Fields ...................................................................................... 29
Appendix E Acronyms ................................................................................................ 30

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide -5- Version 3.5

List of Tables
Table 6-1 NDVI Specifications ...................................................................................... 14
Table 6-2 EVI Specifications ......................................................................................... 15
Table 6-3 SAVI Specifications ....................................................................................... 15
Table 6-4 MSAVI Specifications .................................................................................... 16
Table 6-6-5 NDMI Specifications ................................................................................... 16
Table 6-6 NBR Specifications ....................................................................................... 17
Table 6-7 NBR2 Specifications ..................................................................................... 18
Table 6-8 Pixel Quality Assurance (pixel_qa) for Landsat 4-5 and Landsat 7 ............... 18
Table 6-9 Pixel Quality Assurance (pixel_qa) for Landsat 8 .......................................... 19
Table 11-0-1 Default File Characteristics ...................................................................... 25
Table 12-0-1 Default File Characteristics ...................................................................... 26
Table 13-0-1 Binary File Characteristics ....................................................................... 28

List of Figures
Figure 3-1 Example of LEDAPS atmospheric correction. Left, Top of Atmosphere (TOA)
Reflectance composite (bands 3,2,1) for Landsat-7 ETM+ image of San Francisco
Bay (July 7, 1999); Right, Surface Reflectance composite. Both images are
linearly scaled from p = 0.0 to 0.15. ....................................................................... 10

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide -6- Version 3.5

Section 1 Introduction
Landsat satellite data have been produced, archived, and distributed by the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) since 1972. Users rely on these data for historical study of
land surface change, but shoulder the burden of post-production processing to create
applications-ready data sets. In compliance with guidelines established through the
Global Climate Observing System, USGS has embarked on production of higher-level
Landsat data products to support land surface change studies. One such product is
Surface Reflectance, from which spectral indices can be derived to further the ease of
user application in land remote sensing science.

USGS is currently offering these 30-meter (m) Landsat Surface Reflectance-derived

spectral indices products for Landsat 45 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced
Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal
Infrared Sensor (TIRS):

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI)
Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI)
Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI)
Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR)
Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2)

This product guide describes the characteristics of each product, as well as data access
and available user services.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide -7- Version 3.5

Section 2 Caveats and Constraints
The spectral indices products are under the same constraints as the source Landsat
Surface Reflectance products.
1. The following date ranges apply to the availability of the Landsat archive for spectral
indices processing, with the exceptions noted below.
Landsat 4 TM: July 1982 to December 1993
Landsat 5 TM: March 1984 to May 2012
Landsat 7 ETM+: April 1999 to within one week of present
Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (LC8 or LC08): March 2013 to within one week of
present
2. Spectral indices can only be processed on day-lit scenes (descending node).
3. Landsat 4 TM scenes processed through the National Landsat Archive Processing
System (NLAPS) cannot be used to generate spectral indices products. NLAPS
scenes are formatted and calibrated differently than those processed through the
standard Landsat Product Generation System (LPGS).
A list of known NLAPS scenes can be found online
(https://landsat.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/L4-5TM_NLAPS.xlsx).
NLAPS-based scenes will be automatically removed from user orders. The order
status will be updated with this action and the remaining scenes will continue
processing.
4. Landsat 7 ETM+ scenes acquired on the day of the Scan Line Corrector (SLC)
failure (May 31, 2003) cannot be used to generate spectral indices products. See
https://landsat.usgs.gov/using-landsat-7-data for information on Landsat 7 SLC-off
data products.
5. Landsat 7 ETM+ SLC-off inputs (acquired after May 31, 2003) are not gap-filled in
spectral indices production.
6. For some time periods, Surface Reflectance cannot be run due to missing auxiliary
data. The most up-to-date information regarding data gaps is in the Caveats and
Constraints section of https://landsat.usgs.gov/landsat-surface-reflectance-high-
level-data-products.
7. Spectral indices cannot be processed for products not on the WRS-2 system.
8. Spectral indices products may have increased uncertainties, inherited from the
Surface Reflectance source data, in areas where atmospheric correction is affected
by adverse conditions, including:
Hyper-arid or snow-covered regions
Low sun angle conditions
Coastal regions where land area is small relative to adjacent water

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide -8- Version 3.5

 Areas with extensive cloud contamination
9. Surface Reflectance is not run on scenes with a solar zenith angle greater than or
equal to 76 degrees.
10. Users are cautioned against requesting spectral indices products for areas in high
latitudes (> 65 degrees North or South).
11. Spectral indices products do not carry any quality information, however, saturated
pixels are identified in the outputs. Surface Reflectance data products and the pixel
quality assurance band (pixel_qa) can be utilized to obtain quality information for the
scene.
12. Any pixel values resulting in a spectral index less than/equal to -1.0 will be set to -
10000, and a spectral index greater than/equal to +1.0 will be set to 10000 in the
output product.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide -9- Version 3.5

Section 3 Source Products
The spectral indices products are derived from Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM),
Landsat 7, and Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data.

Landsat 4-7 Surface Reflectance data are generated from specialized software called
Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS). LEDAPS was
originally developed through a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs)
grant by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the University of Maryland
(Masek et al., 2006). The software applies Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) atmospheric correction routines to Level-1 Landsat TM or
ETM+ data. Water vapor, ozone, geopotential height, aerosol optical thickness, and
digital elevation are input with Landsat data to Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in
the Solar Spectrum (6S) radiative transfer models to generate Top of Atmosphere
(TOA) Reflectance, Surface Reflectance, Brightness Temperature, and masks for
clouds, cloud shadows, adjacent clouds, land, and water. The result is delivered as the
Landsat 4-7 Surface Reflectance product, the characteristics of which are described in a
separate product guide:
https://landsat.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ledaps_product_guide.pdf.

The LEDAPS code is maintained by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and
Science (EROS) Center as open source software and is available at
https://github.com/USGS-EROS/espa-surface-reflectance/tree/master/ledaps. LEDAPS
is implemented in the USGS EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) as
fundamental input to the development of higher level data products such as burned
area, surface water extent, and snow covered area. Generation of many of these
higher level data products requires further processing of Surface Reflectance to spectral
indices.

Figure 3-1 Example of LEDAPS atmospheric correction. Left, Top of Atmosphere (TOA) Reflectance composite
(bands 3,2,1) for Landsat-7 ETM+ image of San Francisco Bay (July 7, 1999); Right, Surface Reflectance
composite. Both images are linearly scaled from p = 0.0 to 0.15.

Surface Reflectance for Landsat 8 is generated using the Landsat 8 Surface

Reflectance Code (LaSRC) algorithm. LaSRC is distinctly different from the LEDAPS
algorithm to process Landsat 45 and Landsat 7 Surface Reflectance data.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 10 - Version 3.5

Details about LaSRC are described in its Product Guide:
https://landsat.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/lasrc_product_guide.pdf .

Figure 3-2: Example of LaSRC atmospheric correction. Left, Top of Atmosphere (TOA) Reflectance composite
(bands 4,3,2) for Landsat 8 image of Northwest Washington State (October 14,2013); Right, Surface Reflectance
composite.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 11 - Version 3.5

Section 4 Product Access
Landsat Spectral Indices can be requested on the USGS Earth Resources Observation
and Science (EROS) Center Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) On Demand
Interface: https://espa.cr.usgs.gov.

Details about the ESPA On Demand Interface can be found in the ESPA On-Demand
Interface User Guide:
https://landsat.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/espa_odi_userguide.pdf.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 12 - Version 3.5

Section 5 Product Packaging
Surface Reflectance data acquired from EarthExplorer will are supplied in a gzip file
(.tar.gz). Unzipping this file produces a tarball (.tar), and then will untar to a GeoTIFF
(.tif) file. Each GeoTIFF filename has the suffix _sr_ after the sceneID to denote the
Surface Reflectance transformation.

Files acquired from ESPA will are supplied in a gzip file (.tar.gz). Unzipping this file
produces a tarball (.tar), and then will untar to GeoTIFF (.tif) (default), HDF-EOS2
(.hdf), NetCDF (.nc) or ENVI binary (.img) files. The naming convention used in
these products builds on the filenames of the Landsat original input scenes. An
example breaking down the components of a typical Landsat product is:

LXSS_LLLL_PPPRRR_YYYYMMDD_yyyymmdd_CX_TX_prod_band.ext
(e.g., LE07_L1TP_039037_20080728_20170314_01_T1_sr_ndvi.tif)

L Landsat
X Sensor (E = ETM+; T = TM)
SS Satellite (07 = Landsat 7; 05 = Landsat 5; 04 = Landsat 4)
LLLL Processing correction level (L1TP = Precision Terrain; L1GT =
Systematic Terrain; L1GS = Systematic)
PPP Path
RRR Row
YYYY Year of acquisition
MM Month of acquisition
DD Day of acquisition
yyyy Year of processing
mm Month of processing
dd Day of processing
CX Collection number (01, 02, etc.)
TX Collection category (RT = Real-Time; T1 = Tier 1; T2 = Tier 2)
prod Product, such as toa or sr
band Band, such as band<1-7>, qa, or spectral index.
ext File format extension, such as tif, tfw, xml, hdf, hdr, nc, or img

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 13 - Version 3.5

Section 6 Product Characteristics
6.1 Vegetation Indices (VI)
The vegetation indices options include NDVI, EVI, SAVI, and MSAVI. Products are
generated at 30-m spatial resolution on a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) or
Polar Stereographic (PS) mapping grid. The default file format is GeoTIFF, but options
for delivery in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) and binary are available through the
ESPA Ordering Interface. Likewise, processing services can be requested such as
reprojection and spatial sub-setting. Temporal coverage varies depending on the
selected sensor, with the exceptions noted in Section 2 Caveats and Constraints.

6.1.1 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

NDVI is calculated as a ratio between the red (R) and near infrared (NIR) values in
traditional fashion.

(NIR - R) / (NIR + R)

In Landsat 4-7,
NDVI = (Band 4 Band 3) / (Band 4 + Band 3).

In Landsat 8,
NDVI = (Band 5 Band 4) / (Band 5 + Band 4).

NDVI is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-1 NDVI Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8NDVI, LE7NDVI, LT5NDVI, or LT4NDVI
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.1.2 Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)

EVI incorporates an L value to adjust for canopy background, C values as
coefficients for atmospheric resistance, and values from the blue band (B). These
enhancements allow for index calculation as a ratio between the R and NIR values,
while reducing the background noise, atmospheric noise, and saturation in most cases.

EVI = G * ((NIR - R) / (NIR + C1 * R C2 * B + L))

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 14 - Version 3.5

In Landsat 4-7,
EVI = 2.5 * ((Band 4 Band 3) / (Band 4 + 6 * Band 3 7.5 * Band 1 + 1)).

In Landsat 8,
EVI = 2.5 * ((Band 5 Band 4) / (Band 5 + 6 * Band 4 7.5 * Band 2 + 1)).

EVI is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-2 EVI Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Enhanced Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8EVI, LE7EVI, LT5EVI, or LT4EVI
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.1.3 Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI)

SAVI is calculated as a ratio between the R and NIR values with a soil brightness
correction factor (L) defined as 0.5 to accommodate most land cover types.

((NIR - R) / (NIR + R + L)) * (1 + L)

In Landsat 4-7,
SAVI = ((Band 4 Band 3) / (Band 4 + Band 3 + 0.5)) * (1.5).

In Landsat 8,
SAVI = ((Band 5 Band 4) / (Band 5 + Band 4 + 0.5)) * (1.5).

SAVI is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-3 SAVI Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8SAVI, LE7SAVI, LT5SAVI, or LT4SAVI
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 15 - Version 3.5

6.1.4 Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI)
MSAVI is calculated as a ratio between the R and NIR values with an inductive L
function applied to maximize reduction of soil effects on the vegetation signal.

(2 * NIR + 1 sqrt ((2 * NIR + 1)2 8 * (NIR - R))) / 2

In Landsat 4-7,
MSAVI = (2 * Band 4 + 1 sqrt ((2 * Band 4 + 1)2 8 * (Band 4 Band 3))) / 2.

In Landsat 8,
MSAVI = (2 * Band 5 + 1 sqrt ((2 * Band 5 + 1)2 8 * (Band 5 Band 4))) / 2.

MSAVI is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of
all associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-4 MSAVI Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
Short Name LC8MSAVI, LE7MSAVI, LT5MSAVI, or LT4MSAVI
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.2 Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI)

NDMI is calculated as a ratio between the NIR and SWIR values in traditional fashion.

(NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

In Landsat 4-7,
NDMI = (Band 4 Band 5) / (Band 4 + Band 5).

In Landsat 8,
NDMI = (Band 5 Band 6) / (Band 5 + Band 6).

NDMI is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-5 NDMI Specifications

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 16 - Version 3.5

 Attribute Value
Long Name Normalized Difference Moisture Index
Short Name LC8NDMI, LE7NDMI, LT5NDMI, or LT4NDMI
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.3 Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR)

NBR is calculated as a ratio between the NIR and SWIR values in traditional fashion.

(NIR - SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR)

In Landsat 4-7,
NBR = (Band 4 Band 7) / (Band 4 + Band 7).

In Landsat 8,
NBR = (Band 5 Band 7) / (Band 5 + Band 7).

NBR is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-6 NBR Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Normalized Burn Ratio
Short Name LC8NBR, LE7NBR, LT5NBR, or LT4NBR
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.4 Normalized Burn Ratio 2 (NBR2)

NBR2 is calculated as a ratio between the SWIR values, substituting the SWIR1 band
for the NIR band used in NBR to highlight sensitivity to water in vegetation.

(SWIR1 SWIR2) / (SWIR1 + SWIR2)

In Landsat 4-7,
NBR2 = (Band 5 Band 7) / (Band 5 + Band 7).

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 17 - Version 3.5

In Landsat 8,
NBR2 = (Band 6 Band 7) / (Band 6 + Band 7).

NBR2 is a single band product specified as shown in the table below. A full listing of all
associated metadata fields is found in Appendix D.

Table 6-7 NBR2 Specifications

Attribute Value
Long Name Normalized Burn Ratio 2
Short Name LC8NBR2, LE7NBR2, LT5NBR2, or LT4NBR2
Data Type Signed 16-bit Integer
Units Spectral Index (Band Ratio)
Valid Range -10,000 10,000
Fill Value -9999
Saturate Value 20,000
Scale Factor *0.0001

6.5 Pixel Quality Assurance

A Pixel Quality Assurance (pixel_qa) band is provided with all Collection 1-derived
Spectral Indices products. Each pixel_qa band is provided for Landsat 4-5 and Landsat
7 (Table 6-8) as well as Landsat 8 (Table 6-9) data. The band is in unsigned 16-bit
format, whose values are bit-packed and provide information pertaining to a pixel
condition of fill, clear, water, cloud shadow, snow, cloud (yes/no), cloud confidence and
cirrus cloud confidence (Landsat 8 only.)

Table 6-8 Pixel Quality Assurance (pixel_qa) for Landsat 4-5 and Landsat 7
Bit Value Cumulative Sum Interpretation
0 1 1 Fill
1 2 3 Clear
2 4 7 Water
3 8 15 Cloud shadow
4 16 31 Snow
5 32 63 Cloud
Cloud Confidence
6 64 127 00 = None
01 = Low
7 128 255 10 = Medium
11 = High
8 256 511 Unused
9 512 1023 Unused
10 1024 2047 Unused
11 2048 4095 Unused
12 4096 8191 Unused
13 8192 16383 Unused
14 16384 32767 Unused
15 32786 65553 Unused

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 18 - Version 3.5

Table 6-9 Pixel Quality Assurance (pixel_qa) for Landsat 8
Bit Value Cumulative Sum Interpretation
0 1 1 Fill
1 2 3 Clear
2 4 7 Water
3 8 15 Cloud shadow
4 16 31 Snow
5 32 63 Cloud
Cloud Confidence
6 64 127 00 = None
01 = Low
7 128 255 10 = Medium
11 = High
Cirrus Confidence
8 256 511 00 = Not set
01 = Low from OLI Band 9 reflectance
9 512 1023 10 = Medium from OLI Band 9 reflectance
11 = High from OLI Band 9 reflectance
10 1024 2047 Unused
11 2048 4095 Unused
12 4096 8191 Unused
13 8192 16383 Unused
14 16384 32767 Unused
15 32786 65553 Unused

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 19 - Version 3.5

Section 7 Citation Information
There are no restrictions on the use of these high-level Landsat products. It is not a
requirement of data use, but please include the following citation in publication or
presentation materials based on these products to acknowledge the USGS as a data
source, and to credit the original research.

Landsat Spectral Indices products courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Earth
Resources Observation and Science Center.

For Landsat 4-5 TM or Landsat 7 ETM+:

Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous, N., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, F., Gao, F.,
Kutler, J., and Lim, T.K. (2006). A Landsat surface reflectance data set for North
America, 1990-100, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. 3:68-72.

For Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS:

Vermote, E., Justice, C., Claverie, M., & Franch, B. (2016). Preliminary analysis of the
performance of the Landsat 8/OLI land surface reflectance product. Remote Sensing of
Environment, 185, 46-56.

Reprints or citations of papers or oral presentations based on USGS data are welcome
at the User Services addresses included in this guide. Such cooperation will help USGS
stay informed of how the data are being used.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 20 - Version 3.5

Section 8 Acknowledgments
The original LEDAPS software was developed by Eric Vermote, Nazmi Saleous,
Jonathan Kutler, and Robert Wolfe with support from the NASA Terrestrial Ecology
program (Principal Investigator: Jeff Masek). Subsequent versions were adapted by Dr.
Feng Gao (GSFC/ERT Corp.) with support from the NASA Advancing Collaborative
Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) and the USGS Landsat Programs.

The original Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code (LaSRC) algorithm was developed by
Dr. Eric Vermote, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 21 - Version 3.5

Section 9 User Services
Landsat high-level products and associated interfaces are supported by User Services
staff at USGS EROS. Any questions or comments regarding data products or
interfaces are welcomed through the Landsat Contact Us online correspondence form:
https://landsat.usgs.gov/contact. E-mail can also be sent to the customer service
address included below, with the same indication of topic.

USGS User Services

https://landsat.usgs.gov/contact
custserv@usgs.gov

User support is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. Central
Time. Inquiries received outside of these hours will be addressed during the next
business day.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 22 - Version 3.5

Section 10 References
Chander, G., Markham, B.L., and Helder, D.L. (2009). Summary of current radiometric
calibration coefficients for Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+, and EO-1 ALI sensors. Remote
Sensing of Environment 113:893-903.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2009.01.007.

Claverie, M., Vermote, E. F., Franch, B., and Masek, J. G. (2015). Evaluation of the
Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ surface reflectance products. Remote Sensing of
Environment 169:390-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.08.030.

Jones, J. W., Starbuck, M. J., and Jenkerson, C. B. (2013). Landsat surface reflectance
quality assurance extraction (version 1.7) (No. 11-C7). US Geological Survey.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/11/c07/pdf/tm11-c7.pdf.

Ju, J., Roy, D. P., Vermote, E., Masek, J., and Kovalskyy, V. (2012). Continental-scale
validation of MODIS-based and LEDAPS Landsat ETM+ atmospheric correction
methods. Remote Sensing of Environment 122:175-184.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.12.025.

Maiersperger, T., Scaramuzza, P., Leigh, L., Shrestha, S., Gallo, K., Jenkerson, C., and
Dwyer, J. (2013). Characterizing LEDAPS surface reflectance products by
comparisons with AERONET, field spectrometer, and MODIS data. Remote Sensing
of Environment 136:1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.04.007.

Masek, J.G., Huang, C., Wolfe, R., Cohen, W., Hall, F., Kutler, J., and Nelson, P.
(2008). North American forest disturbance mapped from a decadal Landsat record.
Remote Sensing of Environment 112:2914-2926.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.02.010.

Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous N.E., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, K.F., Gao,
F., Kutler, J., and Lim, T-K. (2006). A Landsat surface reflectance dataset for North
America, 19902000. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 3(1):68-72.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2005.857030.

Schmidt, G.L., Jenkerson, C.B., Masek, J., Vermote, E., and Gao, F. (2013). Landsat
ecosystem disturbance adaptive processing system (LEDAPS) algorithm description:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 20131057, 17 p.

Vermote, E. F., and Kotchenova, S. (2008). Atmospheric correction for the monitoring of
land surfaces. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (19842012)
113(D23). http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009662.

Vermote, E.F., El Saleous, N., Justice, C.O., Kaufman, Y.J., Privette, J.L., Remer, L.,
Roger, J.C., and Tanre, D. (1997). Atmospheric correction of visible to middle-infrared
EOS-MODIS data over land surfaces: Background, operational algorithm, and
validation. Journal of Geophysical Research 102:17131-17141.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 23 - Version 3.5

Vermote, E.F., Tanre, D., Deuze, J.L., Herman, M., and Morcrette, J.J. (1997). Second
simulation of the satellite signal in the solar spectrum, 6S: An overview. IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 35:675-686.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/36.581987.

Vermote, E., Justice, C., Claverie, M., & Franch, B. (2016). Preliminary analysis of the
performance of the Landsat 8/OLI land surface reflectance product. Remote Sensing
of Environment, 185, 46-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.008.

Zhu, Z. and Woodcock, C. E. (2012). Object-based cloud and cloud shadow detection in
Landsat imagery, Remote Sensing of Environment 118:83-94.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.10.028.

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 24 - Version 3.5

Appendix A Default File Characteristics
Table 11-0-1 Default File Characteristics
EVI enhanced vegetation index, MSAVI modified soil adjusted vegetation index, NBR normalized burn
ratio, NBR2 normalized burn ratio 2, NDMI normalized difference moisture index, NDVI normalized
difference vegetation index, SAVI soil adjusted vegetation index

NOTE: A Landsat 7 ETM+ Collection 1 product ID is used only as an example. Landsat 4-5 TM and
Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS files have similar characteristics.

Description Example Example File Name

File Size
(bytes)
EVI data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_evi.tif
MSAVI data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_msavi.tif
NBR data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_nbr.tif
NBR2 data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_nbr2.tif
NDMI data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_ndmi.tif
NDVI data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_ndvi.tif
SAVI data file 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sr_savi.tif
Level 1 65,535 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_MTL.txt
Metadata
Level 1 Angle 34,885 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_ANG.txt
Coefficients
Pixel Quality 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_pixel_qa.tif
Assurance
Per-Pixel Solar 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_solar_azimuth_band4.tif
Azimuth Angle
band
Per-Pixel Solar 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_solar_zenith_band4.tif
Zenith Angle
band
Per-Pixel 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sensor_zenith_band4.tif
Sensor Zenith
Angle band
Per-Pixel 119,336,079 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1_sensor_azimuth_band4.tif
Sensor Azimuth
Angle band
Metadata 25,556 LE07_L1TP_023028_20110907_20160913_01_T1.xml

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 25 - Version 3.5

Appendix B HDF File Characteristics
Table 12-0-1 Default File Characteristics
EVI enhanced vegetation index, MSAVI modified soil adjusted vegetation index, NA not applicable, NBR
normalized burn ratio, NBR2 normalized burn ratio 2, NDMI normalized difference moisture index, NDVI
normalized difference vegetation index, SAVI soil adjusted vegetation index

NOTE: A Landsat 5 TM Collection 1 product ID is used only as an example. Landsat 4 TM,

Landsat 7 ETM+, and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS files have similar characteristics.

NOTE: An .img file is included for each Science Data Set within an HDF file because each
band is stored as an external SDS.

Descriptio Example Example File Name Science Data

n File Size Sets
(bytes)
Spectral 27,572 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1.hdf SDS1 ndvi
Indices data SDS2 evi
file SDS3 ndmi
SDS4 savi
SDS5 msavi
SDS6 nbr
SDS7 nbr2
SDS7 pixel_qa
SDS8
solar_azimuth_ban
d4
SDS9
solar_azimuth_ban
d4
SDS10
solar_azimuth_ban
d4
SDS11
solar_azimuth_ban
d4
Spectral 117,156,66 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_sr_*_h NA
Indices 2 df.img
Bands (7)
Spectral 709 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1.hdf.hdr NA
Indices
Bands
header file
Level 1 65,535 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_MTL.tx NA
Metadata file t
(1)
Level 1 65,535 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_GCP.t NA
Ground xt
Control
Points file (1)
Level 1 161,319 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_VER.tx NA
Geometric t
Verification
Points file (1)
Level 1 351,057 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_VER.jp NA
Geometric g

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 26 - Version 3.5

 Verification
Points
preview
image (1)
Level 1 Angle 27,572 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_ANG.t NA
Coefficients xt
file (1)
Spectral 6,699 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1.xml NA
Indices
Metadata file
(1)

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 27 - Version 3.5

Appendix C Binary File Characteristics
Table 13-0-1 Binary File Characteristics
EVI enhanced vegetation index, MSAVI modified soil adjusted vegetation index, NBR normalized burn ratio, NBR2
normalized burn ratio 2, NDMI normalized difference moisture index, SAVI soil adjusted vegetation index

NOTE: A Landsat 4 TM product ID is used only as an example. Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+, and
Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS files have similar characteristics.

Description Example File Example File Name

Size (bytes)
EVI Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_evi.img
EVI data header file 350 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_evi.hdr
MSAVI Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_msavi.img
MSAVI data header 364 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_msavi.hdr
file
NBR Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_nbr.img
NBR data header file 346 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_nbr.hdr
NBR2 Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_nbr2.img
NBR2 Band header 348 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_nbr2.hdr
file
NDMI Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_ndmi.img
NDMI Band header 361 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_ndmi.hdr
file
NDVI Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_ndvi.img
NDVI Band header file 363 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_ndvi.hdr
SAVI Band 112,857,082 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_savi.img
SAVI Band header file 355 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1_sr_savi.hdr
Level 1 Metadata file 65,535 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_MTL.txt
(1)
Level 1 Ground 65,535 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_GCP.txt
Control Points file (1)
Level 1 Geometric 161,319 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_VER.txt
Verification Points file
(1)
Level 1 Geometric 351,057 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_VER.jpg
Verification Points
preview image (1)
Level 1 Angle 27,572 LT05_L1TP_018034_19850920_20161004_01_T1_ANG.txt
Coefficients file (1)
Metadata 30,828 LT04_L1TP_023028_19821212_20161004_01_T1.xml

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 28 - Version 3.5

Appendix D Metadata Fields
Example of global XML metadata:

<global_metadata>
<data_provider>USGS/EROS</data_provider>
<satellite>LANDSAT_8</satellite>
<instrument>OLI_TIRS</instrument>
<acquisition_date>2013-06-28</acquisition_date>
<scene_center_time>18:40:39.8204854Z</scene_center_time>
<level1_production_date>2017-03-09T15:01:34Z</level1_production_date>
<solar_angles zenith="24.733788" azimuth="131.660614" units="degrees"/>
<wrs system="2" path="43" row="31"/>
<lpgs_metadata_file>
LC08_L1TP_043031_20130628_20170309_01_T1_MTL.txt</lpgs_metadata_file>
<corner location="UL" latitude="42.801350" longitude="-120.700400"/>
<corner location="LR" latitude="40.691440" longitude="-117.783500"/>
<bounding_coordinates>
<west>-120.700594</west>
<east>-117.783319</east>
<north>42.858456</north>
<south>40.638480</south>
</bounding_coordinates>
<projection_information projection="UTM" datum="WGS84" units="meters">
<corner_point location="UL" x="197400.000000" y="4745400.000000"/>
<corner_point location="LR" x="433800.000000" y="4504800.000000"/>
<grid_origin>CENTER</grid_origin>
<utm_proj_params>
<zone_code>11</zone_code>
</utm_proj_params>
</projection_information>
<orientation_angle>0.000000</orientation_angle>
</global_metadata>

Example of per-band XML metadata:

<band scale_factor="0.000100" fill_value="-9999" nsamps="7681" nlines="7811" data_type="INT16"
category="index" name="sr_ndvi" product="spectral_indices" source="sr_refl" saturate_value="20000">
<short_name>LC8SR_NDVI</short_name>
<long_name>normalized difference vegetation index</long_name>
<file_name> LC08_L1TP_043031_20130628_20170309_01_T1_sr_ndvi.tif</file_name>
<pixel_size units="meters" y="30" x="30"/>
<resample_method>none</resample_method>
<data_units>band ratio index value</data_units>
<valid_range max="10000" min="-10000"/>
<app_version>spectral_indices_2.0.1</app_version>
<production_date>2017-03-12T15:52:32Z</production_date>
</band>

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 29 - Version 3.5

Appendix E Acronyms
Acronym Description
6S Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum
C1 Collection 1
CDR Climate Data Record
DDV Dark Dense Vegetation
DIR Directory
DOI Department of the Interior
ECV Essential Climate Variable
ENVI Exelis Visual Information Solutions
EROS Earth Resources Observation and Science
ESPA EROS Science Processing Architecture
ETM+ Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus
EVI Enhanced Vegetation Index
GCOS Global Climate Observing System
GeoTIFF Geographic Tagged Image File Format
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
HDF-EOS2 Hierarchical Data Format Earth Observing System (version 2)
HDR Header
INT Signed Integer
LaSRC Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code
LDOPE Land Data Operational Product Evaluation
LEDAPS Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System
LPGS Landsat Product Generation System
LSB Least Significant Bit
MATLAB Matrix Laboratory
m meter
MEaSUREs Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
MSAVI Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
MSB Most Significant Bit
NA Not Applicable
NASA National Aeronautic and Space Administration
NBR Normalized Burn Ratio
NBR2 Normalized Burn Ratio 2
NC NetCDF File Format
NDMI Normalized Difference Moisture Index
NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
NLAPS National Landsat Archive Processing System
OLI Operational Land Imager
PS Polar Stereographic
QA Quality Assurance

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 30 - Version 3.5

 SAVI Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index
SLC Scan Line Corrector
SR Surface Reflectance
TIRS Thermal Infrared Sensor
TM Thematic Mapper
TOA Top of Atmosphere
UINT Unsigned Integer
USGS U.S. Geological Survey
UTM Universal Transverse Mercator
xml Extensible Markup Language

Landsat Spectral Indices Product Guide - 31 - Version 3.5