Abstract
As a primary nighttime light (NTL) data source, the day/night band (DNB) sensor of the visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) is used in a wide range of studies. However, this signal is influenced by the atmosphere and may cause uncertainty while monitoring ground NTL. Given the lack of the quantitative analysis of the atmospheric effect on NTL, this study analyzes the relationship between VIIRS DNB NTL radiance and aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the urban areas of Beijing and three other Chinese cities of different urbanization levels. Results suggest a significantly negative relationship between the NTL radiance and AOD. The linear and log-linear models generate similar coefficients of determination ( R 2) for the AOD and NTL data, which vary for different urban centers. In Beijing, where the aerosol robotic network observations are available, R 2 reached 0.655 between the monthly NTL radiance and AOD. A slight decrease of R 2 occurred while using the Himawari AOD. The relationship between the NTL radiance and AOD varies among the cities. The NTL radiance may decrease by approximately 10 nW.cm−2sr−1 when daily AOD increases one unit. For Beijing, this decrease may be above 15 nW.cm−2sr−1, which is comparable with the threshold used to extract urban areas. These findings underscore the importance of AOD in the application of NTL data that are potentially useful in the reconstruction of stable time series VIIRS DNB images by removing the aerosol effects.
Highlights
N IGHTTIME light (NTL) remote sensing data reflect the distribution and intensity of the artificial light at night
Equations (1) and (3) indicate that the coefficient b in the linear regression (LR) model and eb in the log-linear regression (L-LR) model are in essence the initial upwelling radiance from the surface light source I0 and a represents the sensitivity of the nighttime light (NTL) radiance to aerosol optical depth (AOD)
The change of the NTL radiance contains the signals of air pollution, which influence the quantitative application of NTL data
Summary
N IGHTTIME light (NTL) remote sensing data reflect the distribution and intensity of the artificial light at night. The two main sources of NTL data are the defense meteorological satellite program–operational linescan system (DMSP OLS) and visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) day/night band (DNB) sensor, onboard the Suomi national polar-orbiting partnership (NPP) and joint polar satellite system satellite platforms [1]. Compared with DMSP OLS, the VIIRS DNB has significant improvements in sensor resolution and calibration, which can acquire a global daily nighttime visible and near-infrared information from cities, towns, industrial sites, and other human activities [2]. These improvements allow for better monitoring of both the magnitude and signature of the nighttime phenomena. The VIIRS DNB NTL images are used in a wide range of research fields, including demographic and socioeconomic indicators [3]–[9], short-term features detection [10]–[13], settlement dynamics [14]–[18], nighttime atmospheric properties [19]–[25], short- and long-term change detection [26]–[28], and other topics, such as light pollution [29], [30] and CO2 emissions [31], [32]
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