Landsat 8 carries two push-broom instruments: the Operational Land Imager (OLI), and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS).
Landsat 8 data products are processed to be consistent with the existing Landsat 1 to Landsat 7 Level-1 data products.
Landsat 8's Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) sensors provide improved signal-to-noise (SNR) radiometric performance quantized over a 12-bit dynamic range.
Along with similar multispectral bands used on the Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor, the addition of a new coastal/aerosol band and a new cirrus band provides improved data products.
The Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS Pre-WRS-2 data set contains nearly 10,000 scenes acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and/or Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) sensors after launch (February 11, 2013) through April 10, 2013, when the satel
Landsat 8 follows the WRS-2 position previously used by Landsat 5. This provides 8-day coverage when coupled with Landsat 7 data.
Because Landsat 8 data includes additional bands, the combinations used to create RGB composites differ from Landsat 7 and Landsat 5. For instance, bands 4, 3, 2 are used to create a color infrared (CIR) image using Landsat 7 or Landsat 5.
Landsat 8's OLI sensor includes a new cirrus band (band 9: 1.360-1.390 µm) to provide better detection of high-altitude clouds that are not otherwise visible in other bands and could affect analysis.
Landsat 8's OLI sensor includes a new coastal/aerosol band (band 1: 0.4333-0.453 µm) that allows the closer investigations of coastal waters, relative to MODIS and SeaWiFS sensors.
The Quality Assessment (QA) band is an important addition to Landsat 8 data files.
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