Performance evaluation and geologic utility of LANDSAT-4 thematic mapper data

Abstract

The overall objective of the project was to evaluate LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data in the context of geologic applications. This involved a quantitative assessment of the data quality including the spatial and spectral characteristics realized by the instrument. Three test sites were selected for the study: (1) Silver Bell, Arizona; (2) Death Valley, California; and (3) Wind River/Bighorn Basin area, Wyoming. Conclusions include: (1) Artificial and natural targets can be used to atmospherically calibrate TM data and investigate scanner radiometry, atmospheric parameters, and construction of atmospheric Modulation Transfer Functions (MTF's), (2) No significant radiometric degradation occurs in TM data as a result of SCROUNGE processing; however, the data exhibit narrow digital number (DN) distributiosn suggesting that the configuration of the instrument is not optimal for each science applications, (30 Increased spatial resolution, 1:24,000 enlargement capability, and good geometric fidelity of TM data allow accurate photogeologic/geomorphic mapping, including relative age dating of alluvial fans, measurement of structural and bedding attitudes, and construction of such things as structural cross sections and stratigraphic columns. (4) TM bands 5 and 7 are particularly useful for geologic applications because they span a region of the spectrum not previously sampled by multispectral scanner data and are important for characterizing clay and carbonate materials