{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T03:15:01Z","timestamp":1781925301426,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,12]],"date-time":"2020-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1597190400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000104","name":"National Aeronautics and Space Administration","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NNX15AP36A"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NNX15AP36A"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000104","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science","award":["G19AS0001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G19AS0001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Landsat Level-1 products are delivered as quantized and calibrated scaled Digital Numbers (DN). The Level-1 DN data can be rescaled to Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance applying radiometric rescaling coefficients. Currently, the Level-1 product is the standard data product of the Landsat sensors. The more recent Level-2 data products contain surface reflectance values, i.e., reflectance as it would be measured at ground level in the absence of atmospheric effects; in the near future, these products are anticipated to become the standard products of the Landsat sensors. The purpose of this paper is to present a radiometric performance evaluation of Level-1 and Level-2 data products for the Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensors. TOA reflectance and derived surface reflectance values from both data products were evaluated and compared to in situ measurements from eight test sites located in Turkey, Brazil, Chile, the United States, France, and Namibia. The results indicate an agreement between the ETM+ and OLI Level-1 TOA reflectance data and the in situ measurements of 3.9% to 6.5% and 3.9% to 6.0%, respectively, across all spectral bands. Agreement between the in situ measurements and both Level-2 surface reflectance data products were consistently decreased in the shorter wavelength bands, and slightly better in the longer wavelength bands. The mean percent absolute error for Level-2 surface reflectance data ranged from 3.3% to 10% for both Landsat sensors. The significant decay in agreement with the data collected in situ in the short wavelength spectral bands with Level-2 data suggests issues with retrieval of aerosol concentration at some sites. In contrast, the results indicate a reasonably accurate estimate of water vapor in the mid-infrared spectrum. Lastly, despite the less reliable performance of Level-2 data product in the visible spectral region (compared with Level-1 data) in both sensors, the Landsat-8 OLI Level-2 showed an improvement of surface reflectance product over all spectral bands in common with the Landsat-7 ETM+ Level-2 data.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs12162597","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,12]],"date-time":"2020-08-12T09:14:49Z","timestamp":1597223689000},"page":"2597","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":72,"title":["Evaluation Analysis of Landsat Level-1 and Level-2 Data Products Using In Situ Measurements"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2895-8697","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cibele","family":"Teixeira Pinto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Imaging Center, Image Processing Laboratory, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3425-3968","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xin","family":"Jing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0836-4768","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Larry","family":"Leigh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Imaging Center, Image Processing Laboratory, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111369","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2019.111369","article-title":"An inter-comparison exercise of Sentinel-2 radiometric validations assessed by independent expert groups","volume":"233","author":"Lamquin","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pinto, C.T., Ponzoni, F.J., Castro, R., Leigh, L., Mishra, N., Aaron, D., and Helder, D. (2016). First in-flight radiometric calibration of MUX and WFI on-board CBERS-4. Remote Sens., 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8050405"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1016\/0034-4257(94)90145-7","article-title":"Uncertainties in the in-flight calibration of sensors with reference to measured ground sites in the 0.4\u20131.1 \u03bcm range","volume":"48","author":"Biggar","year":"1994","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2668","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70302668","article-title":"A Multi-temporal and multi-spectral method to estimate aerosol optical thickness over land, for the atmospheric correction of Formosat-2, LandSat, VEN\u03bcS and Sentinel-2 images","volume":"7","author":"Hagolle","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vermote, E.F., and Kotchenova, S. (2008). Atmospheric correction for the monitoring of land surfaces. J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD009662"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2016.04.008","article-title":"Preliminary analysis of the performance of the Landsat 8\/OLI land surface reflectance product","volume":"185","author":"Vermote","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2691","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2004.840720","article-title":"Landsat sensor performance: History and current status","volume":"42","author":"Markham","year":"2004","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.06.026","article-title":"Forty-year calibrated record of earth-reflected radiance from Landsat: A review","volume":"122","author":"Markham","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.02.001","article-title":"Landsat-8: Science and product vision for terrestrial global change research","volume":"145","author":"Roy","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2016.07.033","article-title":"Landsat 8: The plans, the reality, and the legacy","volume":"185","author":"Loveland","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2019.02.015","article-title":"Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications","volume":"225","author":"Wulder","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"675","DOI":"10.1109\/36.581987","article-title":"Second simulation of the satellite signal in the solar spectrum, 6S: An overview","volume":"35","author":"Vermote","year":"1997","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2005.857030","article-title":"A Landsat surface reflectance data set for North America, 1990\u20132000","volume":"3","author":"Masek","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous, N., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, F., Gao, F., Kutler, J., and Lim., T.K. (2020, May 05). LEDAPS Calibration, Reflectance, Atmospheric Correction Preprocessing Code, Available online: https:\/\/daac.ornl.gov\/MODELS\/guides\/LEDAPS_V2.html."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vermote, E., Roger, J.C., Franch, B., and Skakun, S. (2018, January 23\u201327). LaSRC (Land Surface Reflectance Code): Overview, application and validation using MODIS, VIIRS, LANDSAT and Sentinel 2 data\u2019s. Proceedings of the IGARSS\u2014IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Valencia, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/IGARSS.2018.8517622"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"276","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2013.02.031","article-title":"Global surface reflectance products from Landsat: Assessment using coincident MODIS observations","volume":"134","author":"Feng","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1291","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2015.1104742","article-title":"Development and validation of the Landsat-8 surface reflectance products using a MODIS-based per-pixel atmospheric correction method","volume":"37","author":"Wang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2450","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2009.2016334","article-title":"Atmospheric correction at AERONET locations: A new science and validation data set","volume":"47","author":"Wang","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"627","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.07.019","article-title":"Intercomparison of Landsat albedo retrieval techniques and evaluation against in situ measurements across the US SURFRAD network","volume":"152","author":"Franch","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"390","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2015.08.030","article-title":"Evaluation of the Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ surface reflectance products","volume":"169","author":"Claverie","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(98)00031-5","article-title":"AERONET\u2014A federated instrument network and data archive for aerosol characterization","volume":"66","author":"Holben","year":"1998","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"590","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(2002)059<0590:VOAAOP>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Variability of absorption and optical properties of key aerosol types observed in worldwide locations","volume":"59","author":"Dubovik","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Atmospheric Sci."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2020, May 07). Landsat Collections, Available online: https:\/\/pubs.usgs.gov\/fs\/2018\/3049\/fs20183049.pdf."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2020, May 07). Landsat 8 Collection 1. Data Available, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/land-resources\/nli\/landsat\/march-6-2017-landsat-8-collection-1-data-available."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2020, May 07). Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 Science Products, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/land-resources\/nli\/landsat\/landsat-collection-2-level-2-science-products."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2020, May 07). Landsat Collection 1 vs. Collection 2 Summary, Available online: https:\/\/prd-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/assets\/palladium\/production\/atoms\/files\/Landsat-C1vsC2-20200210-lmws.pdf."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Ihlen, V., Zanter, K., and Department of the Interior, U.S. (2020, May 07). Geological Survey. Landsat 8 (L8) Data Users Handbook. Version 5.0. 2019, EROS, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/media\/files\/landsat-8-data-users-handbook."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Ihlen, V., Zanter, K., and Department of the Interior, U.S. (2020, May 07). Geological Survey. Landsat 7 (L7) Data Users Handbook. Version 2.0. 2019, EROS, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/media\/files\/landsat-7-data-users-handbook."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Zanter, K., and Department of the Interior, U.S. (2020, May 07). Geological Survey. Landsat 4-7 Surface Reflectance (LEDAPS) Product Guide. Version 2.0. 2019, EROS, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/media\/files\/landsat-4-7-surface-reflectance-code-ledaps-product-guide."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Zanter, K., and Department of the Interior, U.S. (2020, May 07). Geological Survey. Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code (LASRC) Product Guide. Version 2.0. 2019, EROS, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/media\/files\/land-surface-reflectance-code-lasrc-product-guide."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17131","DOI":"10.1029\/97JD00201","article-title":"Atmospheric correction of visible to middle-infrared EOS-MODIS data over land surfaces: Background, operational algorithm and validation","volume":"102","author":"Vermote","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6762","DOI":"10.1364\/AO.45.006762","article-title":"Validation of a vector version of the 6S radiative transfer code for atmospheric correction of satellite data Part I: Path radiance","volume":"45","author":"Kotchenova","year":"2006","journal-title":"Appl. Opt."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4455","DOI":"10.1364\/AO.46.004455","article-title":"Validation of a vector version of the 6S radiative transfer code for atmospheric correction of satellite data. Part II. Homogeneous Lambertian and anisotropic surfaces","volume":"46","author":"Kotchenova","year":"2007","journal-title":"Appl. Opt."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1286","DOI":"10.1109\/36.628795","article-title":"The MODIS 2.1 \u03bcm Channel\u2014Correlation with visible reflectance for use in remote sensing of aerosol","volume":"35","author":"Kaufman","year":"1997","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S21","DOI":"10.1088\/0026-1394\/49\/2\/S21","article-title":"Recent surface reflectance measurement campaigns with emphasis on best practices, SI traceability and uncertainty estimation","volume":"49","author":"Helder","year":"2012","journal-title":"Metrologia"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ozen, H., Fox, N., G\u00fcrb\u00fcz, S.Z., Deadman, A., Behnert, I., Harris, P., Yua, L., Griffith, D., Kaewmanee, M., and Prakobya, A. (2012). Preliminary Results of the Comparison of Satellite Imagers Using Tuz G\u00f6l\u00fc as a Reference Standard, International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences.","DOI":"10.5194\/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B1-145-2012"},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Cal\/Val Portal (2020, May 08). Lake T\u00fcz Golu. Available online: http:\/\/calvalportal.ceos.org\/tuz-golu."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2227","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2015.2460454","article-title":"Spectral and atmospheric characterization of a site at atacama desert for earth observation sensor calibration","volume":"12","author":"Pinto","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2018.09.017","article-title":"Continental-scale surface reflectance product from CBERS-4 MUX data: Assessment of atmospheric correction method using coincident Landsat observations","volume":"218","author":"Martins","year":"2018","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_40","first-page":"46","article-title":"The driest place on Earth","volume":"204","author":"Vesilind","year":"2003","journal-title":"Natl. Geogr."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1453","DOI":"10.1002\/joc.938","article-title":"The central Andean west-slope rainshadow and its potential contribution to the origin of hyper-aridity in the Atacama Desert","volume":"23","author":"Houston","year":"2003","journal-title":"Int. J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1117\/1.JRS.12.012003","article-title":"Overview of the 2015 Algodones Sand Dunes field campaign to support sensor intercalibration","volume":"12","author":"McCorkel","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Appl. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"600","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70100600","article-title":"The ground-based absolute radiometric calibration of Landsat 8 OLI","volume":"7","author":"McCorkel","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote. Sens."},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Pinto, C.T., Leigh, L., and Helder, D. (2019, January 14\u201317). SDSU Vegetative Site Analysis from 2013 to 2017 for Radiometric Calibration of Earth Observation Sensors. Proceedings of the Brazilian Symposium on Remote Sensing, 19 (SBSR), Santos, Brazil."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bouvet, M., Thome, K., Berthelot, B., Bialek, A., Czapla-Myers, J.S., Fox, N.P., Goryl, P., Henry, P., Ma, L., and Marcq, S. (2019). RadCalNet: A radiometric calibration network for Earth observing imagers operating in the visible to shortwave infrared spectral range. Remote Sens., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11202401"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jing, X., Leigh, L., Pinto, C.T., and Helder, D. (2019). Evaluation of RadCalNet output data using Landsat 7, Landsat 8, Sentinel 2A, and Sentinel 2B Sensors. Remote Sens., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11050541"},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"Czapla-Myers, J. (2018). RadCalNet site description. CEOS Reference: QA4EO-WGCV-IVO-CSP-002_RVUS, University of Arizona."},{"key":"ref_48","unstructured":"Meygret, A. (2018). RadCalNet site description. CEOS Reference: QA4EO-WGCV-IVO-CSP-002_LC. Name of site: La Crau, Centre National d\u2019\u00c9tudes Spatiales (CNES), Physics for Optical Measurement Service."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"Greenwell, C. (2018). RadCalNet site description. CEOS Reference: QA4EO-WGCV-IVO-CSP-002_GONA. Name of site: Gobabeb, National Physical Laboratory."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Berk, A., Anderson, G.P., Acharya, P.K., and Shettle, E.P. (2011). MODTRAN 5.2.1 User\u2019s Manual, Spectral Sciences Inc., Air Force Research Laboratory."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (2020, July 15). Spectral Characteristics Viewer, Available online: https:\/\/landsat.usgs.gov\/spectral-characteristics-viewer."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1961","DOI":"10.1039\/c0an00192a","article-title":"Least squares in calibration: Dealing with uncertainty in x","volume":"135","author":"Tellinghuisen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Analyst"},{"key":"ref_53","unstructured":"Helene, O.A.M., and Vanin, V.R. (1981). Tratamento Estat\u00edstico de Dados: Em F\u00edsica Experimental, Edgard Bl\u00fccher."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/12\/16\/2597\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:59:44Z","timestamp":1760176784000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/12\/16\/2597"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,12]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"16","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]}},"alternative-id":["rs12162597"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs12162597","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,12]]}}}