The Landsat 7 Data Users Handbook is prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) Landsat Project Science Office at the Earth Resources Observation and
Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, SD, and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) Landsat Project Science Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. The purpose of this handbook is to provide a basic understanding and associated
reference material for the Landsat 7 Observatory and its science data products. In doing
so, this document does not include a detailed description of all technical details of the
Landsat 7 mission but focuses on the information needed by the users to gain an
understanding of the science data products. Executive Summary
The Landsat 7 Data Users Handbook is prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) Landsat Project Science Office at the Earth Resources Observation and
Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, SD, and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) Landsat Project Science Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The purpose of this handbook is to provide a basic understanding and associated
reference material for the Landsat 7 Observatory and its science data products. In doing
so, this document does not include a detailed description of all technical details of the
Landsat 7 mission but focuses on the information needed by the users to gain an
understanding of the science data products.
This handbook includes various sections that provide an overview of reference material
and a more detailed description of applicable data user and product information. This
document includes the following sections:• Section 1 describes the background for the Landsat 7 mission, as well as
previous Landsat missions • Section 2 provides a comprehensive overview of the Landsat 7 concept of
operations, the Observatory, including the spacecraft, the Enhanced Thematic
Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument, the Landsat 7 ground system, as well as
various institutional services • Section 3 provides information on radiometric and geometric instrument
calibration, as well as a description of the Calibration Parameter File (CPF) • Section 4 includes information about the Landsat 7 Long-Term Acquisition Plan
(LTAP) and documents the changes in data acquisition scheduling since launch • Section 5 includes a description of Level 1 data products and product generation,
as well as conversion of Digital Numbers (DNs) to physical units
• Section 6 provides an overview of data search and access using various online
tools • Appendix A contains a list of known issues associated with Landsat 7 data • Appendix B includes information about the CPF content • Appendix C contains historical information pertaining to Landsat 7 ETM+ and
Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) cross-calibration • Appendix D includes historical information about Level 0 Reformatted (L0R) and
Level 1 Reformatted (L1R) data products • Appendix E details the differences between Level 1 Product Generation System
(LPGS) and National Land Archive Production System (NLAPS) products