Modelling of light pollution in suburban areas using remotely sensed imagery and GIS

This paper describes a methodology for modelling light pollution using geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology. The proposed approach attempts to address the issue of environmental assessment in sensitive suburban areas. The modern way of life in developing countrie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2006-04, Vol.79 (1), p.57-63
Main Authors: Chalkias, C., Petrakis, M., Psiloglou, B., Lianou, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants - analysis
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Cities
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
DMSP data
Environmental management
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General aspects. Techniques
Geographic Information Systems
GIS
Greece
Humans
Light
Light pollution
Methods and techniques (sampling, tagging, trapping, modelling...)
Models, Theoretical
Pollution
Remote sensing
Suburban Health
visibility analysis
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Summary:This paper describes a methodology for modelling light pollution using geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology. The proposed approach attempts to address the issue of environmental assessment in sensitive suburban areas. The modern way of life in developing countries is conductive to environmental degradation in urban and suburban areas. One specific parameter for this degradation is light pollution due to intense artificial night lighting. This paper aims to assess this parameter for the Athens metropolitan area, using modern analytical and data capturing technologies. For this purpose, night-time satellite images and analogue maps have been used in order to create the spatial database of the GIS for the study area. Using GIS advanced analytical functionality, visibility analysis was implemented. The outputs for this analysis are a series of maps reflecting direct and indirect light pollution around the city of Athens. Direct light pollution corresponds to optical contact with artificial night light sources, while indirect light pollution corresponds to optical contact with the sky glow above the city. Additionally, the assessment of light pollution in different periods allows for dynamic evaluation of the phenomenon. The case study demonstrates high levels of light pollution in Athens suburban areas and its increase over the last decade.
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.05.015