Evaluating Satellite-Observed Changes in Impervious Surface Cover in Relation to Economic Changes and Spatially Variable Socioeconomic Conditions in Census Data in Southeastern Michigan

Abstract

From space, the Earth can be observed over time. Satellite imagery has documented human influences on the landscape. I examined the effect of economic fluctuations on the landscape across the urban to rural gradient in Southeastern Michigan. Using Landsat satellite imagery, I described and compared land-cover changes observed from Landsat during 2001 – 2005, a five-year period before the Great Recession, to those observed during the period 2007 – 2011, a five-year period during and after the recession. I used dense time-series satellite observations to observe changes in impervious surfaces, compared these over time, and related them to socioeconomic variables collected by the US Census Bureau over census tracts. The results suggest that a suite of socioeconomic factors and landscape characteristics influence the amount of impervious surface change occuring within each census tract. On average impervious surface areas did not increase at a faster rate during the period before the recession, decrease at a slower rate, or change from increasing to decreasing, when compared to the post-recession period. In addition, the socioeconomic composition of individual communities was strongly associated with how the landscapes changed through time and space. Overall, I demonstrate that the socioeconomic characteristics of communities have land use, ecological, and carbon sequestration implications.