LANDSAT-8 BAND COMBINATIONS
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Landsat-8 image acquired over the Pearl River Delta region, China. (Date: 7 Feb 2016)
  • Description
  • Question
  • Combinations

Let's try to find those common band combinations applied to Landsat-8!


Landsat-8 is the most recent earth observation satellite providing global coverage of the earth at a spatial resolution of 30 meters in visible, NIR, SWIR bands. When working with multispectral images, it enables us to reveal information that is beyond human vision. For example, the Near Infrared (NIR) wavelength is commonly used to distinguish vegetation varieties and conditions because vegetation gives a strong reflection in this portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Let's try hover your mouse cursor over the image to zoom into the Pearl River Delta!

Which band combinations show the following more clearly?

  1. Reservoir location
  2. Variation of turbidity in the reservoirs
  3. Vegetation distribution
  4. Built-up area location

Three bands are combined to form an image composite.


Different combination reveal different details.
Red Channel
Green Channel
Blue Channel
Description

Band 1 Coastal (1, 1, 1)

Band 1 senses deep blues and violets. Blue light is hard to collect from space because it’s scattered easily by tiny bits of dust and water in the air, and even by air molecules themselves. It is also called the coastal/aerosol band, after its two main uses: imaging shallow water, and tracking fine particles like dust and smoke.

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