In the upcoming months, Landsat 8 product options will be available to all users via the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) On Demand Interface (http://espa.cr.usgs.gov/). These include top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, surface reflectance (SR), and spectral indices. Landsat 8 surface reflectance data will also be available from EarthExplorer (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov).
Landsat 8 will not be processed with the Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) that is used for Landsat 4, 5 and 7 SR data. A new algorithm has been developed to take advantage of Landsat 8’s unique characteristics.
The original L8 SR code was written in FORTRAN and output only SR. The USGS EROS translation to a C version adds options for TOA reflectance and SR-based spectral indices.
All Landsat 8 scenes can be processed to SR products, including pre-WRS2 however, scenes with a solar zenith angle greater than 76 degrees can be corrected only to TOA reflectance.
More details about the upcoming L8 SR data, as well as a better known timeframe of availability will be provided in a future Landsat Update issue. Relevant webpages and documentation will also be made available before public release.
