Abstract:

Satellite derived night-time lights have been used to study global economic and demographic differences between countries. The majority of studies to date have used the coarse spatial resolution datasets of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). In this study, we hypothesize that night-time lights can serve as an indicator for demographic and socio-economic properties of built-up areas at a local scale. We used night-time light images acquired by the American DMSP (2003, 2.7km), Argentinean SAC-C (2007, 300m) and photographs taken by astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS; 2003, 60m). We compared the night-time lights of built-up areas based on their geographical location (Israel and the West Bank) and their population (Jewish and Arab). Israeli localities were better lit than West Bank localities, corresponding to the difference in the gross domestic product of the two entities. No difference was found in the night-time lights brightness of Jewish and Arab

Website