How to convert PlanetScope data from radiance to reflectance in QGIS

This article explains how to convert PlanetScope® data from radiance to reflectance in QGIS using the Raster Calculator.

  1. Open QGIS and locate the downloaded data file in the Browser panel.
    Downloaded file in the QGIS Browser panel
  2. Drag and drop the data onto the QGIS canvas.
    Data added to the QGIS canvas
  3. Open the Raster Calculator from the Raster menu.
    Raster Calculator in the Raster menu
  4. Extract the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance coefficients from the metadata file of the downloaded data (the .xml file).
    Reflectance coefficients in the metadata file
    Band 1 reflectance coefficient: 3.62030803777e-05
    Band 2 reflectance coefficient: 3.92650525314e-05
    Band 3 reflectance coefficient: 4.72609117041e-05
    Band 4 reflectance coefficient: 7.48021400215e-05
  5. In the raster bands section, each band is named after the raster file, followed by @ and the band number.
    Raster band names in the Raster Calculator
  6. Use the Raster Calculator to multiply the digital number (DN) values in each band by the matching TOA reflectance coefficient.
    "<layer_name>@1" * 3.62030803777e-05
    "<layer_name>@2" * 3.92650525314e-05
    "<layer_name>@3" * 4.72609117041e-05
    "<layer_name>@4" * 7.48021400215e-05

    For example, using the Raster Calculator for band 1:

    Raster Calculator expression for band 1
  7. Repeat these steps to calculate TOA reflectance values for each remaining band.
    Resulting reflectance raster in QGIS

For more detail, see Converting PlanetScope data from radiance to reflectance.

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