RELATION BETWEEN SATELLITE OBSERVED VISIBLE-NEAR INFRARED EMISSIONS, POPULATION, ECONOMIC-ACTIVITY AND ELECTRIC-POWER CONSUMPTION

The area lit by anthropogenic visible-near infrared emissions (i.e., l ights) has been estimated for 21 countries using night-time data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linesc an System (OLS). The area lit is highly correlated to gross domestic p roduct and electric power consumption. Significant outliers exist in t he relation between area lit and population. The results indicate that the local level of economic development must be factored into the app ortionment of population across the land surface based on DMSP-OLS obs erved lights.