scholarly journals Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Are Not Associated with Nighttime Light Emissions

J ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. M. Kyba ◽  
Grégory Giuliani ◽  
Florian Franziskakis ◽  
Klement Tockner ◽  
Pierre Lacroix
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Mining Sites ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Nighttime Light ◽  
Earth Observation Data ◽  
Night Lights

Maintaining records of artisanal and small-scale mining sites in developing countries requires considerable effort, so it would be beneficial if Earth observation data from space could assist in the identifying and monitoring of such sites. Artificial light emissions are common at industrial-scale mining sites and have been associated with small-scale illegal mining in some contexts. Here, we examine whether known artisanal and small-scale mining sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are associated with observations of night light emissions by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (DNB). Light emissions from the mining sites were not observed: the radiance observed from the sites was near zero and nearly identical to that observed for a set of randomly-chosen locations in the same region. While it is the case that DNB night lights’ products provide useful data in other resource extraction contexts, they do not appear to be useful for identifying artisanal mining sites in the DRC.

scholarly journals Are Karst Rocky Desertification Areas Affected by Increasing Human Activity in Southern China? An Empirical Analysis from Nighttime Light Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4175
Author(s):  
Shi ◽  
Yang ◽  
Li
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Annual Growth Rate ◽  
Karst Rocky Desertification ◽  
Rocky Desertification ◽  
Nighttime Lights ◽  
Nighttime Light ◽  
Night Lights

Due to remarkable socioeconomic development, an increasing number of karst rocky desertification areas have been severely affected by human activities in southern China. Effectively analyzing human activities in karst rocky desertification areas is a critical prerequisite for managing and restoring areas with tremendous negative impacts from desertification. At present, a timely and accurate way of quantifying the spatiotemporal variations of human activities in karst rocky desertification areas is still lacking. In this communication, we attempted to quantify human activities from the corrected Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) nighttime light composite data from 2012 to 2018 based on statistical analysis. The results show that a significant increase of night lights could be clearly identified during the study period. The total nighttime lights (TL) related to severe karst rocky desertification (S) were particularly concentrated in Guizhou and Yunnan. The nighttime light intensity (LI) related to the S areas in Chongqing was the strongest due to its rapid socioeconomic development. The annual growth rate of nighttime lights (GL) has been slow or even negative in Guangdong because of its various karst rocky desertification restoration programs. This communication could provide an effective approach for quantifying human activities and provide useful information about where prompt attention is required for policy-making on the restoration of the karst rocky desertification areas.

scholarly journals Threshold or Limit? Precipitation Dependency of Austrian Landslides, an Ongoing Challenge for Hazard Mapping under Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6182
Author(s):  
Ivo Offenthaler ◽  
Astrid Felderer ◽  
Herbert Formayer ◽  
Natalie Glas ◽  
David Leidinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Hazard Mapping ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Earth Observation Data ◽  
Rain Events ◽  
Observation Bias

Climate change is set to increase landslide frequency around the globe, thus increasing the potential exposure of people and material assets to these disturbances. Landslide hazard is commonly modelled from terrain and precipitation parameters, assuming that shorter, more intense rain events require less precipitation volume to trigger a slide. Given the extent of non-catastrophic slides, an operable vulnerability mapping requires high spatial resolution. We combined heterogeneous regional slide inventories with long-term meteorological records and small-scale spatial information for hazard modelling. Slope, its (protective) interaction with forest cover, and altitude were the most influential terrain parameters. A widely used exponential threshold to estimate critical precipitation was found to incorrectly predict meteorological hazard to a substantial degree and, qualitatively, delineate the upper boundary of natural conditions rather than a critical threshold. Scaling rainfall parameters from absolute values into local probabilities (per km²) however revealed a consistent pattern across datasets, with the transition from normal to critical rain volumes and durations being gradual rather than abrupt thresholds. Scaled values could be reverted into site-specific nomograms for easy appraisal of critical rain conditions by local stakeholders. An overlay of terrain-related hazard with infrastructure yielded local vulnerability maps, which were verified with actual slide occurrence. Multiple potential for observation bias in ground-based slide reporting underlined the value of complementary earth observation data for slide mapping and early warning.

scholarly journals Ecological Corridor Construction Based on Least-Cost Modeling Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Nighttime Light Data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 782
Author(s):  
Jiameng Hu ◽  
Yanfang Liu ◽  
Jian Fang
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Ecological Corridors ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Nighttime Light ◽  
Matrix Resistance ◽  
Night Lights

Anthropic pressure is one of the main drivers of landscape change and biodiversity loss. Artificial nighttime light, which can affect species behavior, is an important human-induced threat to biodiversity, but it is often ignored in ecological connectivity research. To mitigate the adverse impacts of artificial lighting on biodiversity, this study integrates artificial nighttime light in landscape ecology and analyzes the influence of artificial nighttime light on landscape connectivity. A quantitative approach integrating nighttime light brightness from a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from a Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is proposed to estimate the matrix resistance, which can identify the sensitive areas that are disrupted by nighttime light. It was found that the nightscape in the study area is significantly disrupted by nighttime light and the matrix resistance in the center of the study area significantly increases. Compared to the least-cost routes from the NDVI, the “dark” least-cost ecological corridors constructed using our approach apparently change in both location and distance. The corridors moved to the outer suburbs and rural areas, and the maximum increase in distance of the least-cost paths was 37.94%. Due to less disturbance from human activity and the maintenance of a pristine nightscape, “dark” ecological corridors can reduce the adverse effects of night lights and contribute to biodiversity. However, natural habitats have been greatly affected by nighttime light with the increase in global illumination, and it is essential that we improve public awareness of light pollution and formulate light-reduction policies and legislation.

scholarly journals Statistical analysis of night radiance RH using VIIRS day/night band satellite time series data

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Jyoti U. Devkota
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Arithmetic Mean ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Order Difference ◽  
First Order ◽  
Night Lights

<p class="SAP-AffiliationLastline">Amount of night lights in an area is a proxy indicator of electricity consumption. This is interlinked to indicators of economic growth such as socio-economic activities, urban population size, physical capital, incidence of poverty. These night lights are generated by renewable and non renewable energy source. In this paper the behavior of night radiance RH data was minutely analyzed over a period of 28 hour; Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (VIIRS DNB) satellite earth observation data were used. These 28 hours and 8936 observations time series data is from 2 September 2018 to 4 September 2018. The behavior of night radiance RH data over 122 time intervals was analyzed using box plots. It was seen that the arithmetic mean of RH data is more sensitive than the arithmetic mean of first order difference of RH data. The first order difference of night radiance RH was regressed on night radiance over 110 intervals of time. The box plot of slope and intercept of this linear regression showed the behavior of these regression parameters over 110 intervals of time. It is seen that the data are more scattered with respect to slope than with respect to intercept. </p>

scholarly journals Investigating the Potential of Radar Interferometry for Monitoring Rural Artisanal Cobalt Mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9834
Author(s):  
Chloe Brown ◽  
Anna Daniels ◽  
Doreen S. Boyd ◽  
Andrew Sowter ◽  
Giles Foody ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
P Value ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The Impact

Greater awareness of the serious human rights abuses associated with the extraction and trade of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has applied increasing pressure for businesses to move towards more responsible and sustainable mineral sourcing. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities in rural and remote locations may provide heightened opportunities to conceal the alleged human rights violations associated with mining, such as: hazardous working conditions, health impacts, child labour, child trafficking, and debt bondage. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method, teamed with high temporal frequency Sentinel-1 imagery, for monitoring ASM activity in rural locations of the “Copperbelt”, the DRC. The results show that the ISBAS descriptive variables (mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum) were significantly different (p-value = ≤ 0.05) between mining and non-mining areas. Additionally, a significant difference was found for the ISBAS descriptive variables mean, standard deviation, and minimum between the different mine types (industrial, surface, and tunnels). As expected, a high level of subsidence (i.e., negative ISBAS pixel value) was a clear indicator of mine activity. Trial activity thresholds were set for the descriptive variables mean (-2.43 mm/yr) and minimum (-5.36 mm/yr) to explore an ISBAS approach to active mine identification. The study concluded that the ISBAS method has great potential as a monitoring tool for ASM, with the ability to separate mining and non-mining areas based on surface motion values, and further distinguish the different mine types (industrial, surface, and tunnel). Ground data collection and further development of ISBAS analysis needs to be made to fully understand the value of an ISBAS-based ASM monitoring system. In particular, surrounding the impact of seasonality relative to longer-term trends in ASM activity.

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