Shedding (Night) Light on Pandemic Economic Impacts

In addition to environmental changes, measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have led to a substantial shift in human activity and movement around the globe. A team of researchers led by Miguel Román, program director at Universities Space Research Association and a principal investigator of NASA's Black Marble science team, is using satellite nighttime light data to help assess the social and economic impacts of this crisis locally to globally, and the effectiveness of containment actions, such as stay-at-home orders, taken to control the spread of the virus. "Our research team has been analyzing images of Earth at night to decipher patterns of energy use, transportation, migration, and other economic and social activities," Román said. "Currently, there are minimal data about how different containment strategies have affected local businesses and neighborhoods, and how companies and residents are responding to preventative measures aimed at containment." The research team will use NASA's Black Marble - a product suite that provides daily satellite-derived nighttime light data - along with population, urban infrastructure, and local pandemic response information to develop COVID-19-specific maps and data products capable of tracking these responses from the street level to the global level in near-real-time. "By tracking responses at fine spatial scales - at the sub-neighborhood level, for example - using NASA's Black Marble product, we seek to improve understanding of how responses to containment strategies have varied within cities and across metropolitan areas with different levels of urbanization and regulation," said Román. This information can inform stakeholders responsible for monitoring the extent, duration, and recovery from this and future outbreaks and disasters.