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AACES-2 Project
Australian Airborne Cal/val Experiment for SMOS
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Landsat

Landsat-5

Source: http://www.nasa.gov, access on 28th, Apr. 2010

Landsat-7

Source: http://science.hq.nasa.gov, access on 28th, Apr. 2010

Landsat satellites collect data in the visible (30m), panchromatic (15m), mid-infrared (30m) and thermal infrared (60 to 120m) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These data have an approximately 16 day repeat cycle with a 10:00am equator crossing time. This data is particularly valuable for land cover and vegetation parameter mapping. Due to an instrument malfunction onboard Landsat 7 in May 2003, the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) is now only able to provide useful image data within the central ~20km of the swath. As Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper is still in operation, it is being increasingly relied upon. The approximate scene size is 170 × 183km. The Landsat coverage for the Murrumbidgee Catchment is summarised below. While there is no budget allocation for purchasing Landsat data, it is useful to keep these overpasses in mind for future reference. Landsat data can be downloaded from NASA.


Mission Landsat
Sensor TM & MSS
(MSS was turned off in Aug. 1995)		 ETM+
Spacecraft Landsat-5 Landsat-7
Launch date 1st, Mar. 1984 15th, Apr. 1999
Design life (year) minimum 3 minimum 5
Orbit Sun-synchronous, polar orbit in altitude of 705km. Cross Equator at 9:45am (±15min.) local time (descending node). Sun-synchronous, polar orbit in altitude of 705km. Cross Equator at 10:00am (±15min.) local time (descending node).
Spacecraft Operations Control Centre NASA
Channel and wavelength (micrometers) 5 bands VNIR (0.45 - 1.75) 1 bands TIR (10.40 - 12.50) 1 bands SWIR (2.08 - 2.35) 1 bands PAN (0.52 - 0.90; +ETM only)
Spatial resolution (m) 30 120 (TM), 60 (+ETM) 30 15
Incidence Angle (°) 0
Swath (km) 185 × 170
Temporal resolution Repeat coverage 16 days

Landsat-5 overpass time

Landsat-5 coverage for the Murrumbidgee Catchment during the AACES-2 campaign has been calculated by a Fortran program based on NORAD data for 29th, Aug. 2010, and is summarized in the table below. Date and time are in UTC. Aircraft flights were assumed to be conducted at 7:45 for descending overpass and 20:35 for ascending overpass.

  : Transect flight within 6 hours   : Patch flight within 6 hours
● : Fully covered ○ : Partially covered

UTC Date Start UTC Time Duration (s) Flight Patch
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2010/09/08 12:44:21 48     ○ ● ● ○          
2010/09/08 23:46:31 43             ○ ○ ● ● ○
2010/09/10 12:31:51 48               ○ ● ● ●
2010/09/14 0:04:51 43   ● ○ ○              
2010/09/15 12:50:33 43   ● ○ ○              
2010/09/15 23:52:35 43 P05       ○ ● ● ○ ○    
2010/09/17 12:38:03 47         ○ ● ● ● ○    
2010/09/17 23:40:20 42                   ○ ●
2010/09/19 12:25:40 39                   ○ ●
2010/09/22 23:58:38 44   ○ ○ ● ● ○          
2010/09/24 12:44:14 47   ○ ● ● ● ○          
2010/09/24 23:46:22 44             ○ ○ ● ○ ○
2010/09/26 12:31:43 48               ○ ● ● ○

Landsat-7 overpass time

Landsat-7 coverage for the Murrumbidgee Catchment during the first AACES campaign have been determined from a Fortran program based on NORAD data for 29th, Aug. 2010, and are summarized in the table below. The date and time are UTC time. Aircraft flights were assumed to be conducted at 7:45 for descending overpass and 20:35 for ascending overpass.

  : Transect flight within 6 hours   : Patch flight within 6 hours
● : Fully covered ○ : Partially covered

UTC Date Start UTC Time Duration (s) Flight Patch
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2010/09/09 12:40:09 47         ○ ● ● ● ○    
2010/09/09 23:42:28 42                   ○ ●
2010/09/11 12:27:48 38                     ○
2010/09/15 0:00:47 43   ○ ○ ● ● ○          
2010/09/16 12:46:21 48   ○ ○ ● ● ○          
2010/09/16 23:48:31 43             ○ ○ ● ● ○
2010/09/18 12:33:51 48               ○ ● ● ○
2010/09/22 0:06:52 42   ● ○ ○              
2010/09/23 12:52:33 43   ● ○                
2010/09/23 23:54:36 43 T02       ○ ● ● ○ ○    
2010/09/25 12:40:03 47         ○ ● ● ● ○    
2010/09/25 23:42:21 43                   ○ ●
Created: September 2010
Last Modified: September 2010
Maintainer: YE Nan, Ye.Nan@monash.edu