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Do, Q. - T., Shapiro, J. N., Elvidge, C. D., Abdel-Jelil, M., Ahn, D. P., Baugh, K., et al. (2018). Terrorism, geopolitics, and oil security: Using remote sensing to estimate oil production of the Islamic State. Energy Research & Social Science, 44, 411–418.
Abstract: As the world’s most traded commodity, oil production is typically well monitored and analyzed. It also has established links to geopolitics, international relations, and security. Despite this attention, the illicit production, refining, and trade of oil and derivative products occur all over the world and provide significant revenues outside of the oversight and regulation of governments. A prominent manifestation of this phenomenon is how terrorist and insurgent organizations—including the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL/ISIS or Daesh—use oil as a revenue source. Understanding the spatial and temporal variation in production can help determine the scale of operations, technical capacity, and revenue streams. This information, in turn, can inform both security and reconstruction strategies. To this end, we use satellite multi-spectral imaging and ground-truth pre-war output data to effectively construct a real-time census of oil production in areas controlled by the ISIL terrorist group. More broadly, remotely measuring the activity of extractive industries in conflict-affected areas without reliable administrative data can support a broad range of public policy and decisions and military operations.
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Meier, & J.M. (2018). Temporal Profiles of Urban Lighting: Proposal for a research design and first results from three sites in Berlin. International Journal of Sustainable Lighting, 20, 11–28.
Abstract: This paper presents and experimentally applies a research design for studying the temporal dimension of outdoor artificial illumination in complex lightscapes such as those of urban centres. It contributes to filling the gap between analyses of high-resolution aerial imagery, which provide detailed but static information on the spatial composition of lightscapes, and existing methods for studying their dynamics, which measure changes at high levels of aggregation. The research design adopts a small-scale, detailed approach by using close-range time-lapse videos to document the on/off patterns of individual light sources as the night progresses. It provides a framework and vocabulary for discrete and comparative analyses of the identified temporal profiles of lighting. This allows for pinpointing similarities and differences among the dynamics of different places, nights or categories of lighting. Its application to three case studies in Berlin indicate that switch-on and switch-off times are clustered, resulting in static and dynamic phases of the night. Midnight is a temporal fault-line, after which full illumination ends as portions of the illumination are extinguished. Switch-off times and -rates differ among the three lightscapes and, especially, among four functional types of lighting that were differentiated: infrastructural and commercial units largely remain on all night, while substantial portions of architectural and indoor lighting are switched off, though at fairly different times. Such findings are valuable for studies based on data collected at specific points in time (aerial imagery, measurements), for informing and monitoring temporally oriented lighting policies, and for understanding urban dynamics at large.
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Posch, T., Binder, F., & Puschnig, J. (2018). Systematic measurements of the night sky brightness at 26 locations in Eastern Austria. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 211, 144–165.
Abstract: We present an analysis of the zenithal night sky brightness (henceforth: NSB) measurements at 26 locations in Eastern Austria focussing on the years 2015-2016, both during clear and cloudy to overcast nights. All measurements have been performed with ’Sky Quality Meters’ (SQMs). For some of the locations, simultaneous aerosol content measurements are available, such that we were able to find a correlation between light pollution and air pollution at those stations. For all locations, we examined the circalunar periodicity of the NSB, seasonal variations as well as long-term trends in the recorded light pollution. The latter task proved difficult, however, due to varying meteorological conditions, potential detector ’aging’ and other effects. For several remote locations, a darkening of the overcast night sky by up to 1 magnitude is recorded – indicating a very low level of light pollution –, while for the majority of the examined locations, a brightening of the night sky by up to a factor of 15 occurs due to clouds. We present suitable ways to plot and analyze huge long-term NSB datasets, such as mean-NSB histograms, circalunar, annual (’hourglass’) and cumulative (’jellyfish’) plots. We show that five of the examined locations reach sufficiently low levels of light pollution – with NSB values down to 21.8 magSQM/arcsec2 – as to allow the establishment of dark sky reserves, even to the point of reaching the ’gold tier’ defined by the International Dark Sky Association. Based on the ’hourglass’ plots, we find a strong circalunar periodicity of the NSB in small towns and villages ( < 5.000 inhabitants), with amplitudes of of up to 5 magnitudes. Using the ’jellyfish’ plots, on the other hand, we demonstrate that the examined city skies brighten by up to 3 magnitudes under cloudy conditions, which strongly dominate in those cumulative data representations. Nocturnal gradients of the NSB of 0.0–0.14 magSQM/arcsec2/hr are found. The long-term development of the night sky brightness was evaluated based on the 2012-17 data for one of our sites, possibly indicating a slight ( 2%) decrease of the mean zenithal NSB at the Vienna University Observatory.
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Ngarambe, J., & Kim, G. (2018). Sustainable Lighting Policies: The Contribution of Advertisement and Decorative Lighting to Local Light Pollution in Seoul, South Korea. Sustainability, 10(4), 1007.
Abstract: We carried out field measurements to determine the contribution of advertisement and decorative lighting to local light pollution in Seoul. We used the lighting limits set by the “Light Pollution Prevention Act”, which regulates light pollution, as measuring criteria. Our results show that both advertisement and decorative lighting are significant contributors to local light pollution in Seoul. Thirty percent of advertisement lighting measured in our study areas exceeded the legal limits. Moreover, we found that certain types of advertisement lighting are more likely to cause light pollution than the others. In addition, 73% of the decorative lighting found in our sample areas exceeded the legal limits. Based on our findings, we suggest that local light pollution policies establish a curfew time when all advertisement and decorative lighting must be completely turned off. Such an approach is essential in reducing lighting levels in outdoor environments. Furthermore, it lessens the burden on law enforcement personnel, who otherwise must ensure that advertisement and decorative lighting levels are kept within the legal limits. In light of the ongoing debate over the role of lighting in public well-being and the sustainability of cities, the present study provides a discussion on the status and management policy of light pollution caused by advertisement and decorative lighting.
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Robertson, B. A., Keddy-Hector, I. A., Shrestha, S. D., Silverberg, L. Y., Woolner, C. E., Hetterich, I., et al. (2018). Susceptibility to ecological traps is similar among closely related taxa but sensitive to spatial isolation. Animal Behaviour, 135, 77–84.
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