Selection of IRS-P6 LISS-4 MO mode band for producing band-sharpened multispectral imagery

The recently launched IRS-P6 satellite has a unique capability of acquiring simultaneously multispectral data at three different spatial resolutions from three independent optical sensors (LISS-4, LISS-3 and AWIFS). Of these, the LISS-4 sensor can be operated in two modes: (i) multispectral (MX) mode covering a swath of 23 km and (ii) monochromatic (MO) mode covering a 70-km swath, both at a spatial resolution of 5 m. One of the important uses of the LISS-4 MO data is in realizing a 5 m band-sharpened multispectral image by merging it with the low-resolution LISS-3 MS image. Operationally anyone of the three LISS-4 bands can be chosen for the MO mode data acquisition. The performance of each band for producing band-sharpened MS images is evaluated, and the choice of the band based on the spatial and spectral characteristics of the merged data is suggested. The LISS-4 Red-band is found to be optimal. It provides band-sharpened imagery with spatial and spectral qualities very similar to the LISS-4 MX data products.