Abstract
Quantitative assessment of community resilience is a challenge due to the lack of empirical data about human dynamics in disasters. To fill the data gap, this study explores the utility of nighttime lights (NTL) remote sensing images in assessing community recovery and resilience in natural disasters. Specifically, this study utilized the newly-released NASA moonlight-adjusted SNPP-VIIRS daily images to analyze spatiotemporal changes of NTL radiance in Hurricane Sandy (2012). Based on the conceptual framework of recovery trajectory, NTL disturbance and recovery during the hurricane were calculated at different spatial units and analyzed using spatial analysis tools. Regression analysis was applied to explore relations between the observed NTL changes and explanatory variables, such as wind speed, housing damage, land cover, and Twitter keywords. The result indicates potential factors of NTL changes and urban-rural disparities of disaster impacts and recovery. This study shows that NTL remote sensing images are a low-cost instrument to collect near-real-time, large-scale, and high-resolution human dynamics data in disasters, which provide a novel insight into community recovery and resilience. The uncovered spatial disparities of community recovery help improve disaster awareness and preparation of local communities and promote resilience against future disasters. The systematical documentation of the analysis workflow provides a reference for future research in the application of SNPP-VIIRS daily images.
Highlights
This study shows that nighttime lights (NTL) remote sensing images are a low-cost instrument to collect near-real-time, large-scale, and high-resolution human dynamics data in disasters, which provide a novel insight into community recovery and resilience
The analysis aims to evaluate the utility of NTL images as a potential data source to study community resilience
This study evaluated the use of NASA’s new moonlight-adjusted Black Marble Products (SNPP-VIIRS VNP46A2) in detecting human activities during a major disaster (Hurricane Sandy)
Summary
Natural disasters continue to cause widespread and long-lasting economic, social, and environmental impacts during the past decades. Hurricanes, one of the devastating natural hazards in the United States, adversely interrupt businesses, impact transportation, and disrupt communities. Empirical evidence shows that communities may suffer from different consequences and recover at different rates during a disaster. Such differences can be attributed to community resilience, which is the critical ability of individuals and communities to cope with, adapt to, and recover from external stresses [1]. To reduce the adverse impacts of disasters, considerable efforts have been made to understand and measure community resilience. Previous studies on community resilience mostly rely on qualitative data (e.g., surveys and interviews) [3,4,5]
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