| |
Lu, Y., & Coops, N. C. (2018). Bright lights, big city: Causal effects of population and GDP on urban brightness. PLoS One, 13(7), e0199545.
Abstract: Cities are arguably both the cause, and answer, to societies' current sustainability issues. Urbanization is the interplay between a city's physical growth and its socio-economic development, both of which consume a substantial amount of energy and resources. Knowledge of the underlying driver(s) of urban expansion facilitates not only academic research but, more importantly, bridges the gap between science, policy drafting, and practical urban management. An increasing number of researchers are recognizing the benefits of innovative remotely sensed datasets, such as nighttime lights data (NTL), as a proxy to map urbanization and subsequently examine the driving socio-economic variables in cities. We further these approaches, by taking a trans-pacific view, and examine how an array of socio-economic ind0icators of 25 culturally and economically important urban hubs relate to long term patterns in NTL for the past 21 years. We undertake a classic econometric approach-panel causality tests which allow analysis of the causal relationships between NTL and socio-economic development across the region. The panel causality test results show a contrasting effect of population and gross domestic product (GDP) on NTL in fast, and slowly, changing cities. Information derived from this study quantitatively chronicles urban activities in the pan-Pacific region and potentially offers data for studies that spatially track local progress of sustainable urban development goals.
|
|
Porcheret, K., Wald, L., Fritschi, L., Gerkema, M., Gordijn, M., Merrrow, M., et al. (2018). Chronotype and environmental light exposure in a student population. Chronobiol Int, in press.
Abstract: In humans and most other species, changes in the intensity and duration of light provide a critical set of signals for the synchronisation of the circadian system to the astronomical day. The timing of activity within the 24 h day defines an individual's chronotype, i.e. morning, intermediate or evening type. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between environmental light exposure, due to geographical location, on the chronotype of university students. Over 6 000 university students from cities in the Northern Hemisphere (Oxford, Munich and Groningen) and Southern Hemisphere (Perth, Melbourne and Auckland) completed the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire. In parallel, light measures (daily irradiance, timing of sunrise and sunset) were compiled from satellite or ground stations at each of these locations. Our data shows that later mid-sleep point on free days (corrected for oversleep on weekends MFSsc) is associated with (i) residing further from the equator, (ii) a later sunset, (iii) spending more time outside and (iv) waking from sleep significantly after sunrise. However, surprisingly, MSFsc did not correlate with daily light intensity at the different geographical locations. Although these findings appear to contradict earlier studies suggesting that in the wider population increased light exposure is associated with an earlier chronotype, our findings are derived exclusively from a student population aged between 17 and 26 years. We therefore suggest that the age and occupation of our population increase the likelihood that these individuals will experience relatively little light exposure in the morning whilst encountering more light exposure later in the day, when light has a delaying effect upon the circadian system.
|
|
Rybnikova, N., Stevens, R. G., Gregorio, D. I., Samociuk, H., & Portnov, B. A. (2018). Kernel density analysis reveals a halo pattern of breast cancer incidence in Connecticut. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 26, 143–151.
Abstract: Breast cancer (BC) incidence rates in Connecticut are among the highest in the United States, and are unevenly distributed within the state. Our goal was to determine whether artificial light at night (ALAN) played a role. Using BC records obtained from the Connecticut Tumor Registry, we applied the double kernel density (DKD) estimator to produce a continuous relative risk surface of a disease throughout the State. A multi-variate analysis compared DKD and census track estimates with population density, fertility rate, percent of non-white population, population below poverty level, and ALAN levels. The analysis identified a “halo” geographic pattern of BC incidence, with the highest rates of the disease observed at distances 5-15 km from the state's major cities. The “halo” was of high-income communities, with high ALAN, located in suburban fringes of the state's main cities.
|
|
|
Ahn, H., Lee, S., & Jo, E. (2018). Assessment on Lighting Management Zones for Light pollution in Gwangju Metropolitan City. 한국태양에너지학회 학술대회논문집, .
|
|
Miller, S. D., Straka III, W. C., Yue, J., Seaman, C. J., Xu, S., Elvidge, C. D., et al. (2018). The Dark Side of Hurricane Matthew: Unique Perspectives from the VIIRS Day/Night Band. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., in press.
Abstract: Hurricane Matthew (28 Sep – 9 October 2016) was perhaps the most infamous storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, claiming over 600 lives and causing over $15 billion USD in damages across the central Caribbean and southeastern U.S. seaboard. Research surrounding Matthew and its many noteworthy meteorological characteristics (e.g., rapid intensification into the southernmost Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin on record, strong lightning and sprite production, and unusual cloud morphology) is ongoing. Satellite remote sensing typically plays an important role in the forecasting and study of hurricanes, providing a top-down perspective on storms developing over the remote and inherently data sparse tropical oceans. In this regard, a relative newcomer among the suite of satellite observations useful for tropical cyclone monitoring and research is the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB), a sensor flying onboard the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. Unlike conventional instruments, the DNB's sensitivity to extremely low levels of visible/near-infrared light offers new insight on storm properties and impacts. Here, we chronicle Matthew’s path of destruction and peer through the DNB’s looking glass of low-light visible observations, including lightning connected to sprite formation, modulation of the atmospheric nightglow by storm-generated gravity waves, and widespread power outages. Collected without moonlight, these examples showcase the wealth of unique information present in DNB nocturnal low-light observations without moonlight, and their potential to complement traditional satellite measurements of tropical storms worldwide.
|
|
|
