Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China
Over the past three decades, China’s rapid urbanization has led to significant population concentration and economic growth, effectively captured by nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing. While NTL data is widely used to monitor urbanization, the relationship between NTL and impervious sur...
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039145/ |
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| author | Cheng Tong Xingyu Xue Chenhao Huang Yurun Chen Haijun Bao Congmou Zhu Yang Ye Binjie Chen |
| author_facet | Cheng Tong Xingyu Xue Chenhao Huang Yurun Chen Haijun Bao Congmou Zhu Yang Ye Binjie Chen |
| author_sort | Cheng Tong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the past three decades, China’s rapid urbanization has led to significant population concentration and economic growth, effectively captured by nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing. While NTL data is widely used to monitor urbanization, the relationship between NTL and impervious surfaces—key indicators of human settlements—remains underexplored. This study investigates the spatial relationship between NTL and impervious surface data, using Zhejiang Province as a case study due to its representative characteristics of rapid development and pronounced regional disparities. First, we conducted a quantitative analysis using the proportion of impervious surface index (Pb), revealing a high correlation (0.74) between NTL and impervious surfaces. Second, we examined the scale effect by analyzing their relationship at resolutions ranging from 500 m to 10 km, finding that the correlation peaked at an 8000-m scale (correlation coefficient of 0.875). Building on these results, we employed bivariate clustering to classify regions into four categories based on NTL and impervious surface characteristics: high NTL-high impervious, high NTL-low impervious, low NTL-high impervious, and low NTL-low impervious. This classification revealed spatial mismatches indicative of regional development imbalances, light pollution in ecological zones, and rural population loss. Our findings reveal a nuanced relationship between NTL and impervious surfaces, demonstrating that NTL is not solely determined by the presence of impervious surfaces but is influenced by a combination of human activities, land use patterns, and regional development characteristics. These findings provide new insights into the potential of NTL data for understanding urbanization processes and identifying uncoordinated development patterns, offering a foundation for sustainable urban planning and policy-making in Zhejiang Province and similar regions across China. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2ff6134463d94f8fbb51bf1a0be8724e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1939-1404 2151-1535 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj-art-2ff6134463d94f8fbb51bf1a0be8724e2025-08-20T03:15:38ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing1939-14042151-15352025-01-0118159001591310.1109/JSTARS.2025.358075811039145Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, ChinaCheng Tong0Xingyu Xue1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4670-5001Chenhao Huang2Yurun Chen3Haijun Bao4Congmou Zhu5Yang Ye6https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9500-4453Binjie Chen7https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8468-8310Research Institute for Urban Planning and Sustainability, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, ChinaCollege of Mathematics and Computer Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, ChinaCollege of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaTsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, ChinaResearch Institute for Urban Planning and Sustainability, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Land Resources Management, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, ChinaResearch Institute for Urban Planning and Sustainability, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Geography and Spatial Information Techniques, Ningbo University, Ningbo, ChinaOver the past three decades, China’s rapid urbanization has led to significant population concentration and economic growth, effectively captured by nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing. While NTL data is widely used to monitor urbanization, the relationship between NTL and impervious surfaces—key indicators of human settlements—remains underexplored. This study investigates the spatial relationship between NTL and impervious surface data, using Zhejiang Province as a case study due to its representative characteristics of rapid development and pronounced regional disparities. First, we conducted a quantitative analysis using the proportion of impervious surface index (Pb), revealing a high correlation (0.74) between NTL and impervious surfaces. Second, we examined the scale effect by analyzing their relationship at resolutions ranging from 500 m to 10 km, finding that the correlation peaked at an 8000-m scale (correlation coefficient of 0.875). Building on these results, we employed bivariate clustering to classify regions into four categories based on NTL and impervious surface characteristics: high NTL-high impervious, high NTL-low impervious, low NTL-high impervious, and low NTL-low impervious. This classification revealed spatial mismatches indicative of regional development imbalances, light pollution in ecological zones, and rural population loss. Our findings reveal a nuanced relationship between NTL and impervious surfaces, demonstrating that NTL is not solely determined by the presence of impervious surfaces but is influenced by a combination of human activities, land use patterns, and regional development characteristics. These findings provide new insights into the potential of NTL data for understanding urbanization processes and identifying uncoordinated development patterns, offering a foundation for sustainable urban planning and policy-making in Zhejiang Province and similar regions across China.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039145/Bivariate spatial clusterscorrelation analysisimpervious surfacenighttime light (NTL)regional uncoordinated developmenturbanization |
| spellingShingle | Cheng Tong Xingyu Xue Chenhao Huang Yurun Chen Haijun Bao Congmou Zhu Yang Ye Binjie Chen Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing Bivariate spatial clusters correlation analysis impervious surface nighttime light (NTL) regional uncoordinated development urbanization |
| title | Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_full | Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_fullStr | Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_short | Is Nighttime Light Primarily From Human Settlements? Exploring the Spatial Relationship Between NTL and Impervious Surface in Zhejiang Province, China |
| title_sort | is nighttime light primarily from human settlements exploring the spatial relationship between ntl and impervious surface in zhejiang province china |
| topic | Bivariate spatial clusters correlation analysis impervious surface nighttime light (NTL) regional uncoordinated development urbanization |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11039145/ |
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