science

Operational Land Imager

Operational Land Imager is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Operational Land Imager rather than just read about it. In short: The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is a remote sensing instrument aboard Landsat 8, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Landsat 8 is the successor to Landsat 7 and was launched on February 11, 2013.

Key takeaways

Operational Land Imager belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Operational Land Imager to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Operational Land Imager from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is a remote sensing instrument aboard Landsat 8, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Landsat 8 is the successor to Landsat 7 and was launched on February 11, 2013. OLI is a push broom scanner that uses a four-mirror telescope with fixed mirrors.

Overview and mission OLI operates alongside TIRS (Thermal Infrared Sensor) on board the LDCM. The build and design of OLI differs from previous generations of instruments, while still maintaining data continuity with archived Landsat data from the last 40 years by keeping the same spectral and spatial resolutions of previous instruments. OLI aids the Landsat-8 mission in the imaging of Earth's surface and the collection of moderate resolution data that is used to monitor changing trends on the surface and evaluate how land usage changes over time. The images and data that OLI has helped collect have practical applications today in agriculture, mapping, and monitoring changes in snow, ice, and water.

Specifications and design OLI is a pushbroom sensor that operates in the visible (VIS) and short wave infrared (SWIR) spectral regions. It has a swath width of 185-kilometer (115 mi), which means it can image the entire Earth over a repeating cycle of 16 days. The OLI has nine spectral bands, including a panchromatic band:

While the spectral and spatial resolution of OLI's channels were kept the same as prior instruments in order to maintain data continuity with the entire Landsat archive, two spectral bands (the first a blue visible channel and the second an infrared channel) were added. These bands were designated as band 1 and band 9, and serve as an enhancement from previous instruments, which lacked these channels. Band 1 was created to locate and determine water resources and investigate coastal areas, and band 9 serves a unique purpose of detecting cirrus clouds.

Applications OLI has several different applications due to the many different bands. Band 1 is helpful in imaging shallow water resources and tracking aerosols. Bands 2, 3, and 4 are in the visible spectrum and are helpful in creating true color composite images. Band 5 is helpful for ecology purposes and can help determine vegetation index or NDVI. Bands 6 and 7 are useful in geology and can help in distinguishing different saturated and unsaturated rocks and soils. Band 8 is helpful in creating images with very high resolution and precision. Band 9 is used for detecting different types of clouds.

References

Further reading Knight, Edward J.; Canova, Brent; Donley, Eric; Kvaran, Geir; Lee, Kenton (2011). The Operational Land Imager: Overview and Performance (PDF). 2011 Civil Commercial Imagery Evaluation Workshop. 29–31 March 2011. Boulder, Colorado.

External links Operational Land Imager at Ball.com Operational Land Imager at NASA.gov

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Operational Land Imager

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Operational Land Imager claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Operational Land Imager before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Operational Land Imager ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Operational Land Imager

In research: Operational Land Imager appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Operational Land Imager in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Operational Land Imager is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Satellite imaging sensors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Operational Land Imager outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Operational Land Imager in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Operational Land Imager means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Operational Land Imager out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Operational Land Imager in simple terms?

Why does Operational Land Imager matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Operational Land Imager?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Operational Land Imager.