ABSTRACT
Since the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972, NASA's Landsat satellite has collected spectral information of the Earth, providing the longest continuous global record of its surface. Landsat 8, the newest satellite in the joint NASA and US Geological Survey (USGS) programme, was launched in February 2013 and collects more than 400 images per day. The images from the Landsat satellites, dating back more than 40 years, are used in research on climate change, alterations in ecosystems, as well as the effects humans have on the Earth's landscape. The latest Landsat satellite, Landsat 8, generates images via two push-broom sensors: the operational land imager (OLI), and the thermal infrared sensor (TIRS). The OLI contains more than 7000 detectors in long arrays for each of its nine spectral bands. It covers the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared regions of the spectrum, with a spatial resolution of 30 m.
