Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Spectral Characteristics Viewer

March 30, 2023

The Spectral Characteristics Viewer allows users to evaluate satellite sensor bands that may be best suited for application research related to the available targets.

Spectral Characteristics Viewer


With this tool, you can:

  • Investigate individual sensor Relative Spectral Responses (RSRs).
  • Compare two sensor RSRs.
  • Investigate individual target spectra.
  • Compare six target spectra.
  • Overlay up to two sensor RSRs and six target spectra for analysis.
  • Compute the response [sensor(s) sampling the target(s)] of up to two sensor RSRs sampling up to six target spectra.

The viewer includes sensor and target spectral information in the following ranges: 

  • VSWIR (0.38 to 2.51 μm)
  • TIR (2.51 to 14.0 μm)
  • VSWIR+TIR (0.38 to 14.0 μm)

The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is updated with new sensors, new spectra, and new functions when appropriate. 

Visit https://landsat.usgs.gov/spectral-characteristics-viewer to access the viewer.