How to convert ASTER TIR to Brightness Temperature in Degrees Kelvin

ENVI has a multi-step process that can perform basic atmospheric correction then convert the resulting emissivity bands to a brightness-temperature image in degrees Kelvin.  When ENVI reads an ASTER AST_L1B scene it calibrates the TIR bands to proper radiance values.  If you are working with one of these datasets proceed to Step 2.  For the newer ASTER AST_L1T datasets ENVI opens these with “byte values” which must first be converted to floating-point radiance values as shown in Step 1.

Step 1
From the Toolbox select Radiometric Correction | Radiometric Calibration and select the five-band TIR file.  Make sure the Calibration Type is Radiance, enter a new filename, and click OK

Step 2
From the Toolbox select Radiometric Correction | Thermal Atmospheric Correction and select as input the five‑band TIR file for AST_L1B datasets or the file created in Step 1 for AST_L1T datasets.  In the dialog window take all defaults and enter an output filename to create the input to the Emissivity Normalization process. 

Step 3
Again from the Toolbox, select Radiometric Correction | Emissivity Normalization and select the Thermal Correction file just created in Step 2.  Take all defaults, make sure the Output Temperature Image is toggled to Yes and enter a filename for this. 

You will now have a brightness temperature file with units in degrees Kelvin.  You can convert this to Celsius using band math to subtract 273.15 from the file.

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