Inter-Calibration of Nighttime Light Data Between DMSP/OLS And NPP/VIIRS in the Economic Corridors of Belt And Road Initiative

Abstract

The nighttime light images acquired by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP/VIIRS) can reflect the comprehensive information of human activities. However, there are radiometric inconsistent problems between the existing DMSP/OLS nighttime lighting data such as lack of on-board radiation corrections, pixel saturation, and timescale discontinuities. The radiometric inconsistency between DMSP/OLS and VIIRS also limit the long-term night time light data-based studies. This paper proposes a new method for the inter-calibration of nighttime light data between DMSP/OLS and NPP/VIIRS in the economic corridors of Belt and Road Initiative. An automatic invariant pixel selection method was developed for the fitting of the inter-calibration models. Results revealed that combined with the NPP/VIIRS nighttime light data, the calibrated DMSP/OLS images at NPP/VIIRS radiometric level can well reflect the long-term socio-economic development trends along the economic corridors.