Converting Landsat TM/ETM Digital Numbers to radiance and temperature values

These steps convert digital numbers in the thermal bands of Landsat TM/ETM (Bands 5,
6 and 7) to radiance and temperature values.
1) Get .cpf (calibration parameter file) for your specific Landsat image from the EROS
data center:
http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/
2) Convert the Landsat DN's to at-satellite radiance. This is easy, because the
DN/radiance relationship is linear. However, you need to know the upper and lower
bounds of radiance to scale the 255 values between. You get this radiance range from the
.cpf files (I have included one for an example). Each cpf file covers a particular time
period of ETM acquisition (usually a couple of months), so be sure your scene has the
right cpf file. I just open the cpf files in Excel. Around line 368 are the 'group scaling
parameters' which shows what the upper/lower bounds for radiance are in each band.
Example (not to be used for your scene!):
GROUP = SCALING_PARAMETERS
GROUP = SCALING_PARAMETERS_LOW
B1L_Lmin_Lmax = (-6.2,293.7)
B2L_Lmin_Lmax = (-6.4,300.9)
B3L_Lmin_Lmax = (-5.0,234.4)
B4L_Lmin_Lmax = (-5.1,241.1)
B5L_Lmin_Lmax = (-1.0,47.57)
B6L_Lmin_Lmax = (0.0,17.04)
B7L_Lmin_Lmax = (-0.35,16.54)
B8L_Lmin_Lmax = (-4.7,243.1)
END_GROUP = SCALING_PARAMETERS_LOW
GROUP = SCALING_PARAMETERS_HIGH
B1H_Lmin_Lmax = (-6.2,191.6)
B2H_Lmin_Lmax = (-6.4,196.5)
B3H_Lmin_Lmax = (-5.0,152.9)
B4H_Lmin_Lmax = (-5.1,157.4)
B5H_Lmin_Lmax = (-1.0,31.06)
B6H_Lmin_Lmax = (3.2,12.65)
B7H_Lmin_Lmax = (-0.35,10.80)
B8H_Lmin_Lmax = (-4.7,158.3)
END_GROUP = SCALING_PARAMETERS_HIGH
So for Band 5, if the scaling parameter is 'LOW' then DN value 0 is equivalent to a
radiance of -1, and 255 equals 47.57. Radiance is in units of watts per meter squared per
steradian per micrometer.

Now, you say, how do I know if the scaling parameter is 'Low' gain or 'High' gain. Well,
you have to go to the EOS data gateway, find your scene in their inventory, and click on
the 'Granule Attributes' for that particular scene - a pain, I know. It might be in the
metafile, too.
3) I like to convert micrometers to meters in the radiance units, so multiply by 106 (just
my preference)
4) If surface temperatures are what you're after (and I imagine they are), then you have to
convert this at-satellite radiance to actual ground radiance, and then use the Planck
function to convert ground radiance to ground temperature. Converting the at-satellite
radiance (Rsatellite) to actual ground radiance (Rground) requires calculating the effects of
surface emissivity (), atmospheric transmissivity (), upwelling radiance (Ru), and
reflected radiance (Rr):
R ground =

R satellite Ru
- Rr
et

You can find emissivity of substances in Salisbury and D'Aria (1984). Atmospheric
transmissivity and upwelling radiance can be estimated with atmospheric modeling
programs like MODTRAN 4. Reflected radiance (probably not significant if using ETM
Band 6, but will play a role in Band 5 and 7) is trickier - some use nearby pixels to garner
an estimate (I'm not the person to ask).
If you don't make this correction, your resulting temperature will only be a very rough
approximation of surface temperature (although the effectiveness of this correction is
arguable). Ground radiance in these bandwidths can then be converted to ground
temperature using the inverse Planck function:
T=

c2
l ln([c1 l / pR ] + 1)
-5

where T = brightness temperature, c1 = 3.742 x 10-16 W m2, c2 = 0.0144 m K, l = band

central wavelength, and R = spectral emittance (radiance). Make sure your units are all
right.
By the way, Band 61 and 62, as you probably know, use exactly the same detector I
believe (same wavelength and bandwidth) but the gain is set differently (61 is set to 'low'
gain, 62 is set to 'high' gain).
Any questions feel free to contact me.
Matt Patrick
patrick@gi.alaska.edu
Alaska Volcano Observatory