Paving the planet : impervious surface as proxy measure of the human ecological footprint

Remote sensing in physical geography : a twenty-first-century-perspective. Special issue

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
This work explores the question: is pavement a proxy measure of human impact on the environment? The AA. explore and evaluate the use of satellite derived density grids of constructed area (aka ‘pavement’ or ‘impervious surface’) in the calculation of national and subnational ‘ecological footprints’. They generated a global constructed area density grid for the 2000—2001 period using satellite observed nighttime lights and a population count grid from the US Department of Energy. Satellite data inputs to the population product include MODIS landcover, SRTM topography and high-resolution imagery. Calibration of the global constructed area density product was derived from high-resolution aerial photographs. The AA. demonstrate that a satellite derived constructed area per person index can serve as a proxy measure of ecological footprints at both the national and subnational level. This relatively simple and globally uniform measure of human impact on the environment correlates strongly with other more difficult to obtain measures.


Type de document :
Article de monographie

Source :
Progress in physical geography, issn : 0309-1333, 2009, vol. 33, n°. 4, p. 510-527, nombre de pages : 18, Références bibliographiques : 2 p.

Date :
2009

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, London, Sage Publications