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Acquiring Landsat 8 data

On February 11, 2013, Landsat 8 was launched adding to the constellation of Earth imaging satellites. It is the seventh satellite to reach orbit successfully but the eighth satellite in the Landsat program. Landsat 8 operates in the visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared and thermal infrared spectrums. It captures an average of 400 scenes a day ranging from Earths land surfaces to its polar regions. Landsat 8 data is freely available for download. Landsat 8 data can be acquired a number of different ways through the USGS website http://landsat.usgs.gov/. Google Earth, Earth Explorer or Glovis are all tools available to download imagery. This tutorial shows how to download data using the USGS website and Google Earth.

Image Download

1. Navigate to http://landsat.usgs.gov/ using a web browser. 2. On the left hand panel click on Tools Landsat 8 KML download. 3. This saves a .kml file locally to your computer.

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4. Open Google Earth. If you do not have this installed on your computer, a free copy can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

5. Click on File Open navigate to the location of the previously saved .kml file. It should be named USGS_landsat.kml.

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6. Notice 2 items have been loaded into the Temporary Places menu.

7. Zoom into your area of interest. As you zoom in you will notice image footprints showing available images for download.

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8. To view the available imagery click on the image icon.

9. Click on View image on Map.

10. The available imagery is displayed on the map.

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11. To download imagery click on the image icon once again. 12. Click Download additional products (requires registration). You must sign in as a

registered user to download data or place an order.

13. After signing in you will be shown available products. 14. Click on the download button to get the Level 1 GeoTIFF Data Product. This will allow

you to download the full resolution images needed for processing in Geomatica.

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15. Click Download besides Level 1 GeoTIFF Data Product. 16. Once the data is saved locally to your computer. Extract the files. 17. To view the files, Drag and drop the _MTL.txt into the Focus window.