Detecting the Effects of Wars in the Caucasus Regions of Russia and Georgia Using Radiometrically Normalized DMSP-OLS Nighttime Lights Imagery

Satellite data can provide a remote view of developments in often dangerous conflict zones. Nighttime lights imagery from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) satellite was used to detect the effects of war in the Caucasus region of Russia and Georgia. To assess changes over time, the data were radiometrically normalized using cities with a relatively stable nighttime lights signature over the course of the study period, 1992-2009. Buffers were created around these stable cities to select the pixels that were then used to normalize cities and towns whose nighttime lighting fluctuated over time. The results show that conflict-related events such as large fires that burn for weeks and large refugee movements are possible to detect, even given the relatively coarse spatial resolution (2.7 km) of the DMSP-OLS imagery.