Consistent nighttime light time series in 1992–2020 in Northern Africa by combining DMSP-OLS and NPP-VIIRS data

Human activities modulate the impact of environmental forcing in general and of climate in particular. Information on the spatial and temporal patterns of human activities is in high demand, but scarce in sparsely populated and data-poor regions such as Northern Africa. The intensity and spatial distribution of nighttime lights provide useful...

Socio-hydrology in the floodplain: Investigating patterns of human response to riverine floods by quantifying the human footprint in flood prone areas using nighttime light data

Flooding is globally one of the most damaging natural hazard. Flood risk will most likely increase in the near future due to increases in flood frequency attributed to climate change and growth in population and wealth in flood prone areas. This growth in wealth and population is increasingly considered as a major driver for the increase in...

Driving in the Dark: Designing Autonomous Vehicles for Reducing Light Pollution

This paper proposes that autonomous vehicles should be designed to reduce light pollution. In support of this specific proposal, a moral assessment of autonomous vehicles more comprehensive than the dilemmatic life-and-death questions of trolley problem-style situations is presented. The paper therefore consists of two interre-lated arguments....

Filtering the NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data for improved detection of settlements in Africa

Observing and understanding changes in Africa is a hotspot in global ecological environmental research since the early 1970s. As possible causes of environmental degradation, frequent droughts and human activities attracted wide attention. Remote sensing of nighttime light provides an effective way to map human activities and assess their...

Light pollution: A case study in framing an environmental problem

Light pollution is a topic gaining importance and acceptance in environmental discourse. This concept provides a framework for categorizing the adverse effects of nighttime lighting, which advocacy groups and regulatory efforts are increasingly utilizing. However, the ethical significance of the concept has, thus far, received little critical...