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Chen, H., Zhang, X., Wu, R., & Cai, T. (2020). Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve for city-level CO2 emissions: based on corrected NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, , 121575.
Abstract: With the increasing trend of global warming, the Chinese government faces tremendous pressure to reduce CO2 emissions. The purpose of this study is to accurately measure CO2 emissions at the city scale in China and examine the environmental Kuznets curve, thereby providing a reference for decision-making. Corrected NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data were used to accurately estimate carbon dioxide emissions at the provincial and city scales in China. Then, based on the STRIPAT model, 291 cities in China were used to verify the environmental Kuznets curve. Our results show that on the provincial scale, the R2 between the estimated value and the statistical value of carbon dioxide reaches 0.85. Western cities in China emit more CO2, as do economically developed cities and industry- and mining-dominated cities. There are two CO2 emission hot spots in the north and one cold spot in the south. It was found that the environmental Kuznets curve on the city scale exists. This study has practical value in utilizing NPP-VIIRS data for the estimation of city CO2 emissions. The results also have academic value for determining factors that contribute to carbon dioxide emissions and can provide a reference for relevant decision makers. This study could be considered the first to simulate CO2 emissions at the provincial and city levels in China based on a NPP-VIIRS nighttime light model to explore the associated geographical distribution characteristics and potential influencing factors.
Keywords: Remore Sensing; China; carbon emissions; CO2 emissions; night lights; NPP-VIIRS; VIIRS-DNB; VIIRS-DNB; Kuznets curve
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Cheon, S. H., & Kim, J. - A. (2020). Quantifying the influence of urban sources on night light emissions. Landscape and Urban Planning, 204, 103936.
Abstract: Light pollution in urban locations is a complex, serious problem, but researchers have paid more attention to light pollution on natural, non-urban environments. Understanding the sources of artificial light radiance intensity is the first step in minimizing damage from light pollution in urban areas. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively examine the relationship between light pollution and urban built environments. We developed databases for a series of urban–built environment data with composite Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite day-night band (VIIRS-DNB) data from the Earth Observation Group of the United States National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Geophysical Data Center to apply regression models (production functions) with grid cells at a spatial resolution of 15 arc seconds. Based on the results, we identified urban-development and land-use characteristics and built-environment factors that caused high levels of light emissions in a city. First, high levels of light emissions are associated with urban spatial-development patterns, such as roads, office buildings, commercial facilities, higher proportions of “station influence areas,” and urban-development intensity. Second, more seriously, the infiltration of commercial facilities into urban residential areas makes them brighter and increases the risk of exposure to light pollution. Therefore, the development of commercial areas and commercial facilities that emit light should be properly managed, especially for areas mixed with residential land use. Third, our quantitative model with intra-city-level analyses can estimate a high level of the baseline light-emission propensity in Seoul, which indicates that a city’s light-emission intensity can be highly associated with its sociocultural and institutional characteristics for lighting and light uses.
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Cox, D. T. C., Sánchez de Miguel, A., Dzurjak, S. A., Bennie, J., & Gaston, K. J. (2020). National Scale Spatial Variation in Artificial Light at Night. Remote Sensing, 12(10), 1591.
Abstract: The disruption to natural light regimes caused by outdoor artificial nighttime lighting has significant impacts on human health and the natural world. Artificial light at night takes two forms, light emissions and skyglow (caused by the scattering of light by water, dust and gas molecules in the atmosphere). Key to determining where the biological impacts from each form are likely to be experienced is understanding their spatial occurrence, and how this varies with other landscape factors. To examine this, we used data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) day/night band and the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, to determine covariation in (a) light emissions, and (b) skyglow, with human population density, landcover, protected areas and roads in Britain. We demonstrate that, although artificial light at night increases with human density, the amount of light per person decreases with increasing urbanization (with per capita median direct emissions three times greater in rural than urban populations, and per capita median skyglow eleven times greater). There was significant variation in artificial light at night within different landcover types, emphasizing that light pollution is not a solely urban issue. Further, half of English National Parks have higher levels of skyglow than light emissions, indicating their failure to buffer biodiversity from pressures that artificial lighting poses. The higher per capita emissions in rural than urban areas provide different challenges and opportunities for mitigating the negative human health and environmental impacts of light pollution.
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Elvidge, C. D., Ghosh, T., Hsu, F. - C., Zhizhin, M., & Bazilian, M. (2020). The Dimming of Lights in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Remote Sensing, 12(17), 2851.
Abstract: A satellite survey of the cumulative radiant emissions from electric lighting across China reveals a large radiance decline in lighting from December 2019 to February 2020—the peak of the lockdown established to suppress the spread of COVID-19 infections. To illustrate the changes, an analysis was also conducted on a reference set from a year prior to the pandemic. In the reference period, the majority (62%) of China’s population lived in administrative units that became brighter in March 2019 relative to December 2018. The situation reversed in February 2020, when 82% of the population lived in administrative units where lighting dimmed as a result of the pandemic. The dimming has also been demonstrated with difference images for the reference and pandemic image pairs, scattergrams, and a nightly temporal profile. The results indicate that it should be feasible to monitor declines and recovery in economic activity levels using nighttime lighting as a proxy.
Keywords: Remote Sensing; VIIRS; Day-night band (DNB); Nighttime lights; COVID-19; Pandemic; VIIRS-DNB
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Franklin, M., Chau, K., Cushing, L. J., & Johnston, J. (2019). Characterizing flaring from unconventional oil and gas operations in south Texas using satellite observations. Environ Sci Technol, 53(4), 2220–2228.
Abstract: Over the past decade, increases in high-volume hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction in the United States have raised concerns with residents living near wells. Flaring, or the combustion of petroleum products into the open atmosphere, is a common practice associated with oil and gas exploration and production, and has been under-examined as a potential source of exposure. We leveraged data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Spectroradiometer (VIIRS) Nightfire satellite product to characterize the extent of flaring in the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, one of the most productive in the nation. Spatiotemporal hierarchical clustering identified flaring sources, and a regression-based approach combining VIIRS information with reported estimates of vented and flared gas from the Railroad Commission of Texas enabled estimation of flared gas volume at each flare. We identified 43,887 distinct oil and gas flares in the study region from 2012-2016, with a peak in activity in 2014 and an estimated 4.5 billion cubic meters of total gas volume flared over the study period. A comparison with well permit data indicated the majority of flares were associated with oil-producing (82%) and horizontally-drilled (92%) wells. Of the 49 counties in the region, 5 accounted for 71% of the total flaring. Our results suggest flaring may be a significant environmental exposure in parts of this region.
Keywords: Remote Sensing; petroleum; Texas; United States; VIIRS-DNB; Eagle Ford Shale; flaring; oil and gas
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