Assessment of Human Impacts on Vegetation in Built-up Areas in China Based on AVHRR,MODIS and DMSP_OLS Nighttime Light Data,1992–2010

Since the reform and opening-up program started in 1978,the level of urbanization has increased rapidly in China.Rapid urban expansion and restructuring have had significant impacts on the ecological environment especially within built-up areas.In this study,ArcGIS 10,ENVI 4.5,and Visual FoxPro 6.0 were used to analyze the human impacts on vegetation in the built-up areas of 656Chinese cities from 1992 to 2010.Firstly,an existing algorithm was refined to extract the boundaries of the built-up areas based on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System(DMSP_OLS)nighttime light data.This improved algorithm has the advantages of high accuracy and speed.Secondly,a mathematical model(Human impacts(HI))was constructed to measure the impacts of human factors on vegetation during rapid urbanization based on Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR)Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)NDVI.HI values greater than zero indicate relatively beneficial effects while values less than zero indicate proportionally adverse effects.The results were analyzed from four aspects:the size of cities(metropolises,large cities,medium-sized cities,and small cities),large regions(the eastern,central,western,and northeastern China),administrative divisions of China(provinces,autonomous regions,and municipalities)and vegetation zones(humid and semi-humid forest zone,semi-arid steppe zone,and arid desert zone).Finally,we discussed how human factors impacted on vegetation changes in the built-up areas.We found that urban planning policies and developmental stages impacted on vegetation changes in the built-up areas.The negative human impacts followed an inverted′U′shape,first rising and then falling with increase of urban scales.China′s national policies,social and economic development affected vegetation changes in the built-up areas.The findings can provide a scientific basis for municipal planning departments,a decision-making reference for government,and scientific guidance for sustainable development in China.

Quantifying urbanization levels on the Tibetan Plateau with high-resolution nighttime light data

The Tibetan Plateau(TP)is undergoing rapid urbanization.To improve urban sustainability and construct eco-logical security barriers,it is essential to quantify the spatial patterns of urbanization level on the TP,but the existing studies on the topic have been limited by the lack of socioeconomic data.This study aims to quantify the urbanization level on the TP in 2018 with Luojia1-01(LJ1-01)high-resolution nighttime light(NTL)data.Specifically,the compounded night light index is used to quantify spatial patterns of urbanization level at mul-tiple scales.The results showed that the TP had a low overall urbanization level with a large internal difference.The urbanization level in the northeast,southeast and south of the TP was relatively high,forming three hotspots centered in Xining City,Lhasa City and Shangri-La City,while the urbanization level in the central and western regions was relatively low.The analysis of influencing factors,based on the random forest model,showed that transportation and topography were the main factors affecting the TP’s spatial patterns of urbanization level.The comparison analysis with socioeconomic statistics and traditional NTL data showed that LJ1-01 NTL data can be used to more effectively quantify the urbanization level since it is more advantageous for reflecting the spatial extent of urban land and describing the spatial structure of socioeconomic activities within urban areas.These advantages are attributed to the high spatial resolution of the data,appropriate imaging time and unaf-fected by saturation phenomena.Thus,the proposed LJ1-01 NTL-based urbanization level measurement method has the potential for wide applications around the world,especially in less-developed regions lacking statistical data.Using this method,we refined the measurement of the TP’s urbanization level in 2018 for multiple scales including the region,basin,prefecture and county levels,which provides basic information for the further urban sustainability research on the TP.

Spatiotemporal Measurement of Regional Expansion in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Metropolitan Area Based on Nighttime Light Data

The research purpose is to accurately reveal the temporal and spatial law of the urban expansion of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan, one of the seven major urban agglomeration areas in China, and provide decision-making basis for the future urban construction land layout and regional development policy-making. Based on the night lighting data (DMSP/OLS), this paper extracts the boundary of the urban construction land of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration from 1993 to 2017, and quantitatively studies the spatial and temporal characteristics of the expansion of the metropolitan area in the past 25 years according to the methods of spatial expansion analysis, center of gravity migration measurement, landscape pattern index, spatial autocorrelation, etc. The results show that: 1) it is scientific and feasible to extract urban agglomeration construction land by the method of auxiliary data comparison for the study of urban expansion;2) the expansion of regional space in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan metropolitan area shows a trend of “weakening first and strengthening later”. The construction land keeps increasing, and the expansion form gradually changes from extensive type to intensive type;3) the center of gravity of the metropolitan area fluctuated and repeated in part during the past 25 years, but it was always located in the municipal district of Changsha city. The eastern region, mainly Changsha city, was still the core area of urban agglomeration expansion;4) strengthening the territorial space protection and control of ecological green core in the metropolitan area is a key measure for the high-quality development of urban agglomeration.

Spatio-temporal variations and influencing factors of energy-related carbon emissions for Xinjiang cities in China based on time-series nighttime light data

This essay combines the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System(DMSP-OLS)nighttime light data and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite(VIIRS)nighttime light data into a“synthetic DMSP”dataset,from 1992 to 2020,to retrieve the spatio-temporal variations in energy-related carbon emissions in Xinjiang,China.Then,this paper analyzes several influencing factors for spatial differentiation of carbon emissions in Xinjiang with the application of geographical detector technique.Results reveal that(1)total carbon emissions continued to grow,while the growth rate slowed down in the past five years.(2)Large regional differences exist in total carbon emissions across various regions.Total carbon emissions of these regions in descending order are the northern slope of the Tianshan(Mountains)>the southern slope of the Tianshan>the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang>the northern part of Xinjiang.(3)Economic growth,population size,and energy consumption intensity are the most important factors of spatial differentiation of carbon emissions.The interaction between economic growth and population size as well as between economic growth and energy consumption intensity also enhances the explanatory power of carbon emissions’spatial differentiation.This paper aims to help formulate differentiated carbon reduction targets and strategies for cities in different economic development stages and those with different carbon intensities so as to achieve the carbon peak goals in different steps.

Modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of electric power consumption in China' Mainland using saturation-corrected DMSP/OLS nighttime stable light data

Obtaining timely and accurate data on the spatiotemporal dynamics of electric power consumption(EPC)is crucial for the effective utilization of electric power in China.The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System(DMSP/OLS)nighttime stable light(NSL)data have good potential for estimating EPC effectively at large scales.However,saturated lighted pixels contained within the NSL data limit the accuracy of EPC estimation.We developed a new method to correct the saturated lighted pixels,using the SPOT VEGETATION(SPOT/VGT)10-day synthesis product(S10)normalized differ-ence vegetation index(NDVI)data and then modeled the spatiotemporal dynamics of EPC in China' Mainland from 2000 to 2008.The results demon-strated the reliability of our approach with an average Rvalue of 0.93(P<0.001)and an average relative error of-28.92%.EPC in China' Mainland showed an average annual growth rate of 13.46% during the study period from 1198.23 billion kWh in 2000 to 3290.51 billion kWh in 2008.EPC in China' Mainland also showed clear regional variation.Northern coastal China and eastern coastal China consumed 37.61%of the total EPC in China' Mainland,with only 25.96% of the population and 6.11% of the area.

Similarities and differences of city-size distributions in three main urban agglomerations of China from 1992 to 2015： A comparative study based on nighttime light data

Comparing the city-size distribution at the urban agglomeration（UA） scale is important for understanding the processes of urban development. However, comparative studies of city-size distribution among China＇s three largest UAs, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei agglomeration（BTHA）, the Yangtze River Delta agglomeration（YRDA）, and the Pearl River Delta agglomeration（PRDA）, remain inadequate due to the limitation of data availability. Therefore, using urban data derived from time-series nighttime light data, the common characteristics and distinctive features of city-size distribution among the three UAs from 1992 to 2015 were compared by the Pareto regression and the rank clock method. We identified two common features. First, the city-size distribution became more even. The Pareto exponents increased by 0.17, 0.12, and 0.01 in the YRDA, BTHA, and PRDA, respectively. Second, the average ranks of small cities ascended, being 0.55, 0.08 and 0.04 in the three UAs, respectively. However, the average ranks of large and medium cities in the three UAs experienced different trajectories, which are closely related to the similarities and differences in the driving forces for the development of UAs. Place-based measures are encouraged to promote a coordinated development among cities of differing sizes in the three UAs.

Carbon dioxide(CO_(2))emissions from the service industry,traffic,and secondary industry as revealed by the remotely sensed nighttime light data

Exploring carbon dioxide(CO2)emissions from human activities is essential for urban energy conservation and resource management.Remotely sensed nighttime lights from the Suomi NPP-VIIRS provide spatial consistency in and a low-cost way of revealing CO2 emissions.Although many researches have documented the feasibility of the Suomi NPP-VIIRS data for assessing CO2 emissions,few have systematically revealed the ability of nighttime lights for evaluating CO2 emissions from different industries,such as service industry CO2 emissions(SC),traffic CO2 emissions(TC),and secondary industry CO2 emissions(IC).Here,China was selected as the experimental subject,and we comprehensively explored the relationships between the nighttime lights and SC,TC,and IC,and investigated the factors mediating these relationships.We found that without considering other factors,the nighttime lights only revealed up to 51.2%of TC,followed by 41.7%of IC and 22.7%of SC.When controlling for city characteristic variables,the models showed that there were positive correlations between the Suomi NPP-VIIRS data and SC,IC,and TC,and that nighttime lights have an Inverted-U relationship with SC.The Suomi NPP-VIIRS data are more suitable for revealing SC,TC,and IC in medium-sized and large-sized cities than in small-sized cities and megacities.

Spatial-temporal characteristics and decoupling effects of China’s carbon footprint based on multi-source data

In 2007,China surpassed the USA to become the largest carbon emitter in the world.China has promised a 60%–65%reduction in carbon emissions per unit GDP by 2030,compared to the baseline of 2005.Therefore,it is important to obtain accurate dynamic information on the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions and carbon footprints to support formulating effective national carbon emission reduction policies.This study attempts to build a carbon emission panel data model that simulates carbon emissions in China from 2000–2013 using nighttime lighting data and carbon emission statistics data.By applying the Exploratory Spatial-Temporal Data Analysis(ESTDA)framework,this study conducted an analysis on the spatial patterns and dynamic spatial-temporal interactions of carbon footprints from 2001–2013.The improved Tapio decoupling model was adopted to investigate the levels of coupling or decoupling between the carbon emission load and economic growth in 336 prefecture-level units.The results show that,firstly,high accuracy was achieved by the model in simulating carbon emissions.Secondly,the total carbon footprints and carbon deficits across China increased with average annual growth rates of 4.82%and 5.72%,respectively.The overall carbon footprints and carbon deficits were larger in the North than that in the South.There were extremely significant spatial autocorrelation features in the carbon footprints of prefecture-level units.Thirdly,the relative lengths of the Local Indicators of Spatial Association(LISA)time paths were longer in the North than that in the South,and they increased from the coastal to the central and western regions.Lastly,the overall decoupling index was mainly a weak decoupling type,but the number of cities with this weak decoupling continued to decrease.The unsustainable development trend of China’s economic growth and carbon emission load will continue for some time.

Spatio-temporal correlation between human activity intensity and land surface temperature on the north slope of Tianshan Mountains

Research on the spatio-temporal correlation between the intensity of human activities and the temperature of earth surfaces is of great significance in many aspects,including fully understanding the causes and mechanisms of climate change,actively adapting to climate change,pursuing rational development,and protecting the ecological environment.Taking the north slope of Tianshan Mountains,located in the arid area of northwestern China and extremely sensitive to climate change,as the research area,this study retrieves the surface temperature of the mountain based on MODIS data,while characterizing the intensity of human activities thereby data on the night light,population distribution and land use.The evolution characteristics of human activity intensity and surface temperature in the study area from 2000 to 2018 were analyzed,and the spatio-temporal correlation between them was further explored.It is found that:(1)The average human activity intensity(0.11)in the research area has kept relatively low since this century,and the overall trend has been slowly rising in a stepwise manner(0.0024·a-1);in addition,the increase in human activity intensity has lagged behind that in construction land and population by 1-2 years.(2)The annual average surface temperature in the area is 7.18℃with a pronounced growth.The rate of change(0.02℃·a-1)is about 2.33 times that of the world.The striking boost in spring(0.068℃·a-1)contributes the most to the overall warming trend.Spatially,the surface temperature is low in the south and high in the north,due to the prominent influence of the underlying surface characteristics,such as elevation and vegetation coverage.(3)The intensity of human activity and the surface temperature are remarkably positively correlated in the human activity areas there,showing a strong distribution in the east section and a weak one in the west section.The expression of its spatial differentiation and correlation is comprehensively affected by such factors as scopes of human activities,manifestations,and land-use changes.Vegetation-related human interventions,such as agriculture and forestry planting,urban greening,and afforestation,can effectively reduce the surface warming caused by human activities.This study not only puts forward new ideas to finely portray the intensity of human activities but also offers a scientific reference for regional human-land coordination and overall development.

Spatiotemporal measurement of urbanization levels based on multiscale units: A case study of the Bohai Rim Region in China

Urbanization is a complex process reflecting the growth, formation and develop- ment of cities and their systems. Measuring regional urbanization levels within a long time series may ensure healthy and harmonious urban development. Based on DMSP/OLS night- time light data, a human-computer interactive boundary correction method was used to ob- tain information about built-up urban areas in the Bohai Rim region from 1992 to 2012. Con- sequently, a method was proposed and applied to measure urbanization levels using four measurement scale units： administrative division, land-sea location, terrain feature, and geomorphological types. Our conclusions are： 1） The extraction results based on DMSP/OLS nighttime light data showed substantial agreement with those obtained using Landsat TM/ETM＋ data on spatial patterns. The overall accuracy was 97.70% on average, with an average Kappa of 0.79, indicating that the results extracted from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data were reliable and could well reflect the actual status of built-up urban areas. 2） Bohai Rim＇s urbanization level has increased significantly, demonstrating a high annual growth rate from 1998 to 2006. Areas with high urbanization levels have relocated evidently from capital to coastal cities. 3） The distribution of built-up urban areas showed a certain degree of zonal variation. The urbanization level was negatively correlated with relief amplitude and altitude. A high level of urbanization was found in low altitude platforms and low altitude plains, with a gradual narrowing of the gap between these two geomorphological types. 4） The measure- ment method presented in this study is fast, convenient, and incorporates multiple perspec- tives. It would offer various directions for urban construction and provide reference values for measuring national-level urbanization.