Landsat 8 & Sentinel-2 Rare Imagery Comparison
Imagery Downloads of Same Area 15 Minutes Apart (Landsat Scene Center Solar Elevation is 59.5⁰)
Landsat 8 - Sentinel-2 Band Comparison
Downloads (below):
1) L8_S2_Comparison (includes): Landsat 8 Top of Atmosphere (TOA) for Bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; Sentinel-2 TOA for Bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8a, 11, 12 (see L8 & S2 Bands page for Sentinel band information); Landsat 8 USGS Surface Reflectance (SR) for Bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; LandsatLook Imagery (SWIR, NIR, Red; RGB imagery). Keep in mind Sentinel-2 bands have finer pixel resolution. Because SR is a function of the SR conversion methods, TOA reflectance is a more pure comparison for the imagery (green and NIR [Landsat 8 band 5 and Sentinel-2 band 8a] have the same band center wavelength, while blue and red are similar). A comparison of SR based on the Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 method described on this website can also be downloaded (TOA and SR values for this download are listed at the bottom).
Larger extent and to the east of top download: 2) L8_p20r31_080415_F50_B4RS_SR is surface reflectance based on the Frequency 50 minus .008 method described in the Landsat 8 Atmospheric Correction Tutorial (relative scatter based on band 4 [red]); 3) L8_p20r31_080415_USGS_SR is corresponding USGS Landsat 8 Algorithm surface reflectance; 4) S2_080415_F50_B4RS_SR is corresponding Sentinel-2 surface reflectance based on the Frequency 50 minus .008 method described in the Sentinel-2 Atmospheric Correction Tutorial (relative scatter based on band 4 [red]); 5) S2_080415_Background_Imagery is corresponding Sentinel-2 SWIR/NIR/Red RGB background imagery (green is vegetation). SR is the same as TOA (no scatter deducted) for SWIR bands.
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1) L8_S2_080415_Comparison.zip
(20.1M) -
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3) L8_p20r31_080415_USGS_SR.zip
(39.2M) -
4) S2_080415_F50_B4RS_SR.zip
(209.5M) -
On 8/4/15 at 16:16:10.672 Z-Time, Landsat 8 imaged this scene, mostly in Ohio and Michigan in the Midwestern United States. The orange box is extent of the top data download (4.5 x 4.5 kilometers in area). It is very uncommon to have clear imagery of the same by the two different satellite this close in time. N is ↑. For scale, image is 160 km east-west through box along green surface; (image has a black background). The new larger downloads are to the east, and are part of the same scene but different tile.
On 8/4/15 at 16:31:26.027 Z-Time (15 minutes later), Sentinel-2 imaged this in northwest Ohio, clouds moved in somewhat, but the imagery comparison area (orange box) is still clear - the graphic below includes two tiles representing virtually the same time. N is ↑. For scale, image is 177 km along top edge.
Frequency 50 Minus .008 Surface Reflectance Comparison for Top Download
(NIR is Band 5 for Landsat 8 and Band 8a for Sentinel-2; Surface Reflectance Method is Described in Tutorial and Classes)
| S2 F50 .008 SR | L8 F50 .008 SR | L8 USGS SR | ||
| Blue | 0.03927 | 0.03622 | 0.03027 | |
| Green | 0.05904 | 0.05632 | 0.05913 | |
| Red | 0.05381 | 0.05164 | 0.05089 | |
| NIR | 0.36269 | 0.35152 | 0.35500 |