A global urban microwave backscatter time series data set for 1993-2020 using ERS, QuikSCAT, and ASCAT data

Steve Frolking; Tom Milliman; Richa Mahtta; Aaron Paget; David G Long; Karen C Seto

doi:10.1038/s41597-022-01193-w

A global urban microwave backscatter time series data set for 1993-2020 using ERS, QuikSCAT, and ASCAT data

Sci Data. 2022 Mar 16;9(1):88. doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01193-w.

Authors

Steve Frolking¹, Tom Milliman², Richa Mahtta³, Aaron Paget⁴, David G Long⁵, Karen C Seto³

Affiliations

¹ Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, 8 College Rd., Durham, NH, 03824, USA. steve.frolking@unh.edu.
² Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, 8 College Rd., Durham, NH, 03824, USA.
³ Yale School of the Environment, 195 Prospect Street, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
⁴ Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Concord University, Vermillion Street PO Box 1000, Athens, WV, 24712, USA.
⁵ Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 450 Engineering Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.

Abstract

Urban settlements are rapidly growing outward and upward, with consequences for resource use, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem and public health, but rates of change are uneven around the world. Understanding trajectories and predicting consequences of global urban expansion requires quantifying rates of change with consistent, well-calibrated data. Microwave backscatter data provides important information on upward urban growth - essentially the vertical built-up area. We developed a multi-sensor, multi-decadal, gridded (0.05° lat/lon) data set of global urban microwave backscatter, 1993-2020. Comparison of backscatter from two C-band sensors (ERS and ASCAT) and one Ku-band sensor (QuikSCAT) are made at four invariant non-urban sites (~3500 km²) to evaluate instrument stability and multi-decadal pattern. For urban areas, there was a strong linear correlation (overall R² = 0.69) between 2015 ASCAT urban backscatter and a continental-scale gridded product of building volume, across 8450 urban grid cells (0.05° × 0.05°) in Europe, China, and the USA. This urban backscatter data set provides a time series characterizing global urban change over the past three decades.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding