Category: Earth Observation Group – Payne

Exploring the Hidden World of Lighting Flicker with a High-Speed Camera 4/2/2024

Exploring the Hidden World of Lighting Flicker with a High-Speed Camera

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Senior Research Associate Christopher D. Elvidge, Research Associate Mikhail Zhizhin, Director Morgan Bazilian, Ashley Pipkin, Sharolyn Anderson, and William S. Kowalik write about how alternating current can result in flickering—or pulsing—in the brightness of light emitted by luminaires.  However, evidence indicates that many organisms perceive flicker with non-visual photoreceptors present on the retinas. April 2, 2024.

VIIRS SENSORS SHOW BREADTH OF TEXAS WILDFIRES 2/29/2024

VIIRS SENSORS SHOW BREADTH OF TEXAS WILDFIRES

Payne Institute Research Associate Mikhail Zhizhin, Senior Research Associate Christopher Elvidge, Communications Associate Kristin Ziv, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how using the VIIRS Nightfire satellites, the Earth Observation Group at the Payne Institute for Public Policy has calculated the temperatures and spatial extent of active burning in the Texas Panhandle with their Nightfire algorithm applied to data collected by NOAA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer Suite (VIIRS). February 29, 2024.

EOG’S VIIRS SATELLITES CONFIRM DRONE ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN OIL INFRASTRUCTURE 2/16/2024

EOG’S VIIRS SATELLITES CONFIRM DRONE ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN OIL INFRASTRUCTURE

Payne Institute Research Associate Mikhail Zhizhin, Communications Associate Kristin Ziv, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how using the VIIRS Nightfire satellites, the Earth Observation Group at the Payne Institute for Public Policy was able to confirm several of the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in Russia that have occurred over the past several weeks.  February 16, 2024.

PAYNE INSTITUTE’S EOG MEASURES CHILEAN WILDFIRES

PAYNE INSTITUTE’S EOG MEASURES CHILEAN WILDFIRES

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Mikhail Zhizhin, Christopher Elvidge, Communications Associate Kristin Ziv, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about the Chilean wildfires which could be the deadliest on record, according to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. With its VIIRS Nightfire satellites, the Earth Observation Group can detect wildfires all over the world within two hours after the satellite overpass. With this algorithm, EOG can not only detect, but characterize wildfires in size and temperature. February 9, 2024.

Deemed Sustainable by Seafood Industry Monitors, Harvested California Squid Has an Unmeasurable Energy Footprint 12/8/2023

Deemed Sustainable by Seafood Industry Monitors, Harvested California Squid Has an Unmeasurable Energy Footprint

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Senior Research Associate Christopher Elvidge contributed to this article about how tens of thousands of tons of the cephalopods caught off the California coast are shipped to China for processing, then sold to consumers around the world.  China has also become a ruthlessly efficient and cheap processor of the seafood its fleets catch, as well as that caught by fleets from other countries.  December 8, 2023.  

OGCI accelerates action to tackle global oil and gas methane emissions 12/5/2023

OGCI accelerates action to tackle global oil and gas methane emissions

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) announced at COP28 that it has stepped up activities on methane detection and flaring to help more companies reduce methane emissions from their oil and gas operations.  OGCI expanded its flagship Satellite Monitoring Campaign (SMC) to include more countries and assets. This was complemented by work with the World Bank’s Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMR) and US-based Payne Institute for Public Policy to launch a more accessible platform on global gas flaring data.  December 5, 2023.

Context-dependent changes in maritime traffic activity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic 11/25/2023

Context-dependent changes in maritime traffic activity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Christopher D. Elvidge and others write about how rapid implementation of human mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reduced maritime activity in early 2020.  However, maritime activity in 2020 was more complex than previously reported, as activity were industry and area specific.  Passenger vessels were less active in 97% of Mediterranean Sea coastal states, and ceclines in fishing vessel presence were localised and short-lived.  November 25, 2023.

PROLONGED DIMMING OF UKRAINIAN URBAN ILLUMINATION: A MEASURE OF CONFLICT’S IMPACT 11/15/2023

Prolonged Dimming of Ukrainian Urban Illumination: A Measure of Conflict’s Impact

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Researcher Mikhail Zhizhin writes about how natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or pandemics trigger a short-term dimming of city lights, followed by a rapid recovery. The war in Ukraine, however, has induced a novel pattern of city lights changes: an abrupt and sustained decline in illumination from the outset of the conflict, persisting for two years with partial recovery observed in some cities. November 15, 2023.

Gaza Power Outage Observed From Space NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Day / Night Band 10/12/2023

Gaza Power Outage Observed From Space – NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Day/Night Band

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group observed using changes using their satellite VIIRS programming suite in the lighting during the ongoing conflict covering Gaza, the West Bank and much of Israel spanning August 1, 2023, to October 11, 2023.  There are controls on the bottom of the image to advance the frames one by one, to stream the temporal loop and to adjust the speed of the looping. The loop shows that lighting in Gaza is dimmer than the lighting in Israel.  The influence of clouds can be seen in blocking and blurring the detection of lights.  During the full moon reflectance is detected from the land surface outside the lit areas.  The lights in Gaza are absent on October 8 and 9 and are abnormally dim on October 10, 2023.  October 12. 2023.