SATELLITE INVENTORY OF HUMAN-SETTLEMENTS USING NOCTURNAL RADIATION EMISSIONS - A CONTRIBUTION FOR THE GLOBAL TOOLCHEST

Time series data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DM SP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) have been used to derive georefe renced inventories of human settlements for Europe, North, and South A merica, and Asia. The visible band of the OLS is intensified at night, permitting detection of nocturnal visible-near infrared emissions fro m cities, towns, and villages. The time series analysis makes it possi ble to eliminate ephemeral VNIR emission sources such as fire and to n ormalize for differences in the number of cloud-free observations. An examination of the area lit (km(2)) for 52 countries indicates the OLS derived products may be used to perform the spatial apportionment of population and energy related greenhouse gas emissions.