Remote Sensing of Night-time Light

Christopher Elvidge, Xi Li, Yuyu zhou, Changyong Cao, Timothy A. Warner, Christopher Elvidge, Xi Li, Yuyu zhou, Changyong Cao, Timothy A. Warner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780367769888
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000431070
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

Satellite images acquired at night provide a visually arresting perspective of the Earth and the human activities that light up the otherwise mostly dark Earth. These night-time light satellite images can be compiled into a geospatial time series that represent an invaluable source of information for both the natural and social sciences. Night-time light remote sensing has been shown to be particularly useful for a range of natural science and social science applications, including studies relating to urban development, demography, sociology, fishing activity, light pollution and the consequences of civil war. Key sensors for these time-series include the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (Suomi NPP/VIIRS DNB). An increasing number of alternative sources are also available, including high spatial resolution and multispectral sensors.

This book captures key methodological issues associated with pre-processing night-time light data, documents state of the art analysis methods, and explores a wide range of applications. Major sections focus on NPP/VIIRS DNB processing; inter-calibration between NPP/VIIRS and DMPS/OLS; applications associated with socio-economic activities, applications in monitoring urbanization; and fishing activity monitoring.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Remote Sensing.

Port economics comprehensive scores for major cities in the Yangtze Valley, China using the DMSP-OLS night-time light imagery

Chang Li

, Guangping Chen, Jing Luo, Shice Li and Jia Ye

ABSTRACT

In this article, the Defence Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) night-time light remotely sensed data on a small scale is proposed to evaluate port economic comprehensive scores (PECS) for the ports of the major cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Chongqing, in the Yangtze River Valley, China. First, the concept and calculation method of port night-time light intensity (PNLI) are proposed. Second, an estimation method of PECS is proposed using factor analysis. Third, two regression models (i.e. first- and second-order polynomials) between PNLI and PECS are built and tested. The goodness-of-fit of the two models are compared, both with and without outliers. Finally, experimental results show that the proposed methods for evaluating PECS in the Yangtze River Valley, China are feasible. Wuhan has the strongest correlation (R² = 0.925) and passes the F-test, F_t = 55.429 >4.26 = F_{t (0.05)} (2, 9); Shanghai has the weakest correlation (R²: 0.688) but still passes as well, F_t = 9.944 >4.26 = F_t(0.05) (2, 9). Factors confounding the correlation for Shanghai are discussed. Overall, this study not only proposes a new set of methods to evaluate the performance of port economies but also provides a feasible way to use DMSP-OLS data to study the geographic problems of small scales.

1. Introduction

The port economy is a type of regional economy that is typically composed of shipping, port-neighbouring industries, trade, tourism, and other relevant industries in a certain area. The study of port economies has become an important component of economic geography and regional economics. However, the factors that affect the development of the port economy are complex, and it is often difficult to effectively evaluate the performance of a port economy. Many international organizations and scholars are committed to building a set of methods and techniques for evaluating the condition of port economies based on various economic indicators. In the 1980s, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 1983) developed a statistical index system of port performance in a prescriptive manual that can be used to assess the level of comprehensive port development. By comparing the economic operation of 20 ports and given certain standards, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method was also used to evaluate port performance (Roll and Hayuth 1993). Some studies have found that port economic activities, resource abundance in the hinterland, and port linkage relationships ar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Preface: Remote sensing of night-time light
• VIIRS night-time lights
• Assessment of straylight correction performance for the VIIRS Day/Night Band using Dome-C and Greenland under lunar illumination
• Improving accuracy of economic estimations with VIIRS DNB image products
• A new multichannel threshold algorithm based on radiative transfer characteristics for detecting fog/low stratus using night-time NPP/VIIRS data
• Intercalibration between DMSP/OLS and VIIRS night-time light images to evaluate city light dynamics of Syria’s major human settlement during Syrian Civil War
• Outdoor light and breast cancer incidence: a comparative analysis of DMSP and VIIRS-DNB satellite data
• Using multitemporal night-time lights data to compare regional development in Russia and China, 1992–2012
• The short-term economic impact of tropical Cyclone Pam: an analysis using VIIRS nightlight satellite imagery
• Port economics comprehensive scores for major cities in the Yangtze Valley, China using the DMSP-OLS night-time light imagery
• Urban mapping using DMSP/OLS stable night-time light: a review
• Analysis of urbanization dynamics in mainland China using pixel-based night-time light trajectories from 1992 to 2013
• Assessing urban growth dynamics of major Southeast Asian cities using night-time light data
• A novel method for urban area extraction from VIIRS DNB and MODIS NDVI data: a case study of Chinese cities
• Monitoring urban expansion using time series of night-time light data: a case study in Wuhan, China
• Predicting potential fishing zones of Japanese common squid (Todarodes pacificus) using remotely sensed images in coastal waters of south-western Hokkaido, Japan
• Index