The Many Band Combinations of Landsat 8

Author: Joe Peters / Thursday, January 29, 2015

Landsat 8 is the most recent satellite in the Landsat program. The data quality (signal-to-noise
ratio) and radiometric quantization (12-bits) of the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and
Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) are higher than previous Landsat instruments (8-bit for TM and
ETM+). Since it's launch on February 11, 2013, Landsat 8 has been providing some truly
stunning images of the earth's surface. Beyond their beauty, these images are packed with
information which can be manipulated to extract features and discern changes to the earth's
surface over time.
When working with Landsat imagery, a logical first step is to load an image into an image
analysis program and begin to visualize what is in the scene. The OLI sensor aboard Landsat 8
has nine bands for capturing the spectral response of the earth's surface at discrete wavelengths
along the electromagnetic spectrum. Additionally, the TIRS sensor aboard Landsat 8 collects
information at two discrete wavelengths within the thermal infrared portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum. These wavelengths have been chosen carefully based on years of
scientific research.

Standard digital cameras are designed to replicate what we see with the human eye, so they
capture light only in the red, green and blue wavelengths and then apply red, green and blue
filters (also known as channels) to these wavelengths, respectively, that when combined generate
a natural looking RGB image. With a multispectral image from a sensor system such as Landsat
8, we have a lot more information to work with. Different wavelengths can often help us discern
some features better than others or even help us "see through" features such as clouds or smoke.
For example, the Near Infrared (NIR) wavelength is one of the most commonly used
wavelengths on multispectral sensors because vegetation reflects so strongly in this portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum that this information proves very useful when performing
vegetation analyses. The Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) bands aboard Landsat 8 are very useful for
discerning differences in bare earth and for telling what is wet and what is dry in a scene. There
are many other examples of the advantages of the available bands in Landsat images, but what I
would like to do here is simply show how loading different combinations of these bands into the
red, green and blue channels makes different features stand out. I am not the first to do this, but I

just thought I would add an additional resource to the world wide web for showing how these
band combinations can be used to visualize Landsat 8 images.
4 , 3 , 2 - Natural Color Image, Fresno, California
This band combination is as close to "true color" as you can get with a Landsat OLI image. One
unfortunate drawback with this band combination is that these bands tend to be susceptible to
atmospheric interference, so they sometimes appear hazy.

5, 4, 3 - Traditional Color Infrared (CIR) Image, Colorado/Utah

Note how vegetation really pops in red, with healthier vegetation being more vibrant. It's also
easier to tell different types of vegetation apart than it is with a natural color image. This is a
very commonly used band combination in remote sensing when looking at vegetation, crops and
wetlands.

7, 6, 4 - False Color useful for visualizing urban environments, Los Angeles, California
Because this band combination makes use of both of the SWIR bands aboard Landsat 8, the
image is much more crisp than band combinations that make use of bands in shorter
wavelengths, which are more susceptible to haze.

5, 6, 4 - False Color good for picking out land from water, Hudson Bay, Canada
In this false color image, land appears in shades of orange and green, ice stands out as a vibrant
magenta color, and water appears in shades of blue.

7, 5, 3 - False color image with good atmospheric penetration, Washington/Oregon

This band combination is similar to the 5, 6, 4 band combination shown above, but vegetation
shows up in more vibrant shades of green. This band combination was used for the global
Landsat mosaic created by NASA.

6, 5, 2 - False color for agriculture, Fruita, Colorado

This band combination is useful for the monitoring of agricultural crops, which appear as a
vibrant green. Bare earth appears as a magenta color and non-crop vegetation appears as more
subdued shades of green.

7, 5, 2 - False color often used for visualizing forest fire burn scars, Rim Fire, California
This band combination is similar to the 6, 5, 2 band combination shown above, but by pushing
further into the SWIR range of the electromagnetic spectrum, there is less susceptibility to smoke
and haze generated by a burning fire.

6, 3, 2 - False color for distinguishing differences in bare earth, Canyonlands NP, Utah
This band combination is good for discerning variations in a landscape that does not contain an
abundance of vegetation. It is good for geologic applications.

5, 7, 1 - False color for vegetation and water, Lake Victoria, Tanzania

This band combination makes use of the NIR, SWIR2, and Coastal Aerosol bands, respectively.
The Coastal Aerosol band is unique to Landsat 8 and is used primarily to track fine particles like
dust and smoke, and also to peer into shallow water. With this color combination, vegetation
appears orange.