HUMAN SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS IN HURRICANE-PRONE ZONES OF CONTERMINOUS U.S: A VIEW FROM NIGHTTIME REMOTE SENSING

Hurricane is one of the most devastating natural disasters on earth, posing great threats to people living in coastal areas. Thus, a better understanding of human settlement dynamics, especially in hurricane-prone areas, is in great need. This study examines nighttime satellite-derived human settlement in hurricane-prone areas of conterminous U.S from 1992 to 2013. To solve the lack of on-board calibration problem and saturation of luminosity problem, the original DMSP/OLS time series were intercalibrated and desaturated using NDVI products from AVHRR and MODIS. A popular index, VANUI, was derived and was later applied Mann-Kendall and Theil-Sen trend test. Four hurricane-prone zones, representing different level of hurricane proneness, were delineated from historical NAB-origin storm tracks using a wind-speed weighted track density function. The dynamic of VANUI in different hurricane-prone zones was finally quantified and analyzed. The result suggests a distinctive discrepancy in settlement intensity between northern and southern study area. It also indicates that the both the extent and the increase rate in settlement intensity positively correlate hurricane proneness in predefined hurricane-prone zones.