Abstract
Abstract. This paper investigates the association between night-time lights and socio-economic metrics at the regional level. This regional level of understanding is critical as it underpins much economic monitoring and policy-making for sustainable development. Stable light data obtained from night time images of 2001, captured by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program – Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) satellite, are used in the study. The data records artificial lights from human habitations from the earth surface and is a surrogate of the level of development of an area. Data on socio economic metrics at the sub-national level for the year 2001 for the state of Maharashtra in India have been sourced from Primary Census Abstract of India, 2001. However, most of the socio economic variables are not available at the village level. This paper describes the process of deriving maps of census metrics not collected by Indian census for small regions (such as villages) using DMSP-OLS images that are otherwise unavailable. Linear regression models with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.75 to 0.90 (p < 0.05) at the district and the taluk level from the nighttime satellite images were used to predict these census metrics for villages. Maps are produced for villages. Errors associated with the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) and ecological fallacies are also discussed. The paper concludes with an overall assessment of the results at these various spatial scales.
Highlights
Night-time satellite images of the earth are recorded by the Operational Linescan System onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Programme (DMSP-OLS) group of satellites
This paper investigates the association between night-time lights and socio-economic metrics at the regional level
The selected census metrics were chosen as the dependent variables and mean and standard deviation of brightness and stable lights obtained from the images were used as the independent variables
Summary
Night-time satellite images of the earth are recorded by the Operational Linescan System onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Programme (DMSP-OLS) group of satellites. This is a passive sun synchronous satellite capable of capturing artificial lights at nights from the earth surface in the visible and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In late 1970s it was discovered that the data obtained from the OLS sensor can record lights from cities at night (Croft 1978; Welch & Zupko 1980). N. H., Muller & Elvidge 2000) and economies (Ghosh et al 2009) were mapped using DMSP-OLS night-time images. Gas flares on the earth surface (Elvidge, C et al 2009) were mapped using this data product.
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