Nighttime Lights, Socioeconomic Development, and Revitalization Policies in Northeast Asia

Abstract:

Nighttime lights are typically used as a proxy for population and economic growth, yet they can also reveal socioeconomic decline. We use two night light datasets to infer socioeconomic patterns and trends in the Russian Far East, Northeast China, and North Korea, a cross-border region impacted by the 1991 collapse of the USSR. First, using the annual stable light composites from the DMSP/OLS satellites, we find that generally, nighttime lights declined in the Russian Far East, increased in Northeast China, and fluctuated in North Korea between 1992 and 2012. By 2012, lighting in most of the Russian Far East had not recovered to 1992 levels. In Northeast China, a government revitalization program may have increased lighting during the mid-2000s, suggesting sensitivity of remotely sensed nighttime lights to regional development policies. Yet caveats with DMSP/OLS data include low spatial and radiometric resolutions, saturation, and blooming. The Day/Night Band (DNB) of the Suomi NPP satellite, however, launched in October 2011, has higher quality, enabling improved monitoring of socioeconomic trends in the region. For our second night lights dataset, we use both nightly images and monthly DNB composites to make inferences regarding socioeconomic activities at finer spatial and temporal resolutions from 2012-2015. Cross-border activity in particular emerges in finer detail, allowing us to examine specific transport corridors and sites of industrial and natural resource production that involve both Russian and Chinese partners.