Featured Uses of Data

The growth of urban areas has long been considered a local issue, but scientists using SEDAC’s Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP v1) and NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product have made spatially explicit forecasts of urban land-cover change to show that biodiversity hotspots and carbon pools will be significantly affected by urban population growth.  The researchers estimate that by 2030, urban land area around the globe will nearly triple the level in year 2000, resulting in substantial loss of habitats in key biodiversity hotspots.

An analysis of coastal wetlands loss from sea level rise due to climate change, conducted by SEDAC for the Ramsar Convention's Scientific and Technical Review Panel, provides estimates of wetland losses as a basis for identifying potential adaptation measures. The Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance: Sea Level Rise Impacts data and related map client make use of NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data, SEDAC’s Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project version 1 (GRUMPv1) population density grid for the year 2000 (and a 2010 projection), the GRUMPv1 urban extents grid, and an updated version of SEDAC’s Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates, v1 data.

This article in the annual anthology, Sensing Our Planet: NASA Earth Science Research Features 2012, describes how economists have used night-time lights satellite data together with SEDAC human settlements data as a measure of economic growth, complementing traditional economic data. The researchers combined a dataset produced by NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) with SEDAC’s Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project version 1 (GRUMPv1) Settlement Points to attribute economic activity to specific cities.  The researchers, including former SEDAC staff member Adam Storeygard, show that the night-time lights data enable cross-border and subnational assessments of economic activity.

Researchers interested in the sustainability of groundwater depletion used SEDAC’s Gridded Population of the World (GPW v3) population count data for 2000 to find that approximately 1.7 billion people inhabit areas impacted by groundwater stress.  More than half the people affected live in China and India.

A five-part article examines the implications of world population growth beyond seven billion; SEDAC's Human Footprint data shows where Earth been most impacted.

Satellite data offer a particularly valuable perspective on PM2—small particles deriving mostly from burning fossil fuels and biomass, which can harm human health—because ground instruments may be unavailable or offer limited information, as is the case in China. With that in mind, researchers at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and Batelle Memorial Institute have developed maps based on satellite data that depict annual PM2.5 exposure in all of China’s provinces.

The widely distributed 2010-2011 World Resources Report: Decision Making in a Changing Climate includes coastal population estimates from SEDAC′s Population Landscape and Climate Estimates (PLACE) data collection. The data includes both the percentage of and a country′s actual population living within 10 kilometers of a coastline, and is based on SEDAC′s Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) population data set.

A Nature Climate Change article focuses on the milestone of world population passing the seven billion mark and the implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Maps featuring SEDAC’s GRUMP data set, describing populations at risk of climate change impacts, are featured on Page 3. The article also features interviews with former SEDAC project scientist Deborah Balk and SEDAC deputy manager Alex de Sherbinin. 

A map using SEDAC′s Gridded Population of the World data set to illustrate a discussion of population density and population growth, page 50 of the National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World (2009).

A map of SEDAC′s the Human Footprint illustrates the extent to which Africa′s land area is influenced by humans.

SEDAC’s Gridded Population of the World version 3 (GPWv3) dataset is now available through an interactive 3D globe based on WebGL, hosted on Google’s Chrome Experiment site (requires compatible graphics card).

This interactive map tool and associated data set lets users map low-income areas having high-density populations that lack good access to nutritious food (“food deserts”). Census tract-level statistics for these areas may also be viewed. Satellite imagery provides an optional background in the map viewer. SEDAC’s U.S. Census Grids data are used as a key source for the tool.

SEDAC′s GPWv3 and GRUMPv1, along with MODIS and SRTM data, are used in a paper, “Modelling the Distribution of Chickens, Ducks, and Geese in China,” by D.J. Prosser et al, appearing in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Global concerns over the emergence of zoonotic pandemics emphasize the need for high-resolution population distribution mapping and spatial modelling. Because of a lack of livestock population distribution data in China, modeling the distribution of poultry is critical to studying emerging zoonotic pandemics. GRUMP population density and urban extents are predictor variables in the model in this paper.

An embedded Google Earth client in an article in Nature News shows the population count living within 75 kilometers of each of the world′s nuclear power plants. Population increases with circle size and color, from green (< 0.5 million) to red (> 20 million). The data and analysis were developed by SEDAC.

A map by SEDAC of the world′s malnourished illustrates an article in Nature News, “Food: The Growing Problem.” It makes the case that inability to purchase food rather than lack of enough is the reason for worldwide malnutrition. 

The SEDAC data set Low-elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) is the basis for a set of national-level indicators of the total area and population in the LECZ circa 2000. Map 2.2 (page 94), Chapter 2 of the World Development Report 2010, Managing Urban Growth and Flood Risk in a Changing Climate in South and Southeast Asia.  

Data and maps compiled by SEDAC and the Center for Hazards and Risk Research are featured in a front-page news article in the New York Times (print version February 25) assessing the vulnerability of buildings in earthquake zones. “Where Shoddy Construction Could Mean Death” shows a map (top) that depicts the predicted number of deaths in Instanbul from a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, depending on the type of construction of the building. The second map (bottom) ranks the vulnerability of other urban areas in earthquake zones with more than one million people.

This interactive map shows the population missing as a result of the Haiti earthquake on January 28, 2010. Thousands of personal reports of loved ones missing were provided to Ireport, and this information was combined with SEDAC population data to create the map.

An interactive map shows impacts from the recent Haiti earthquake.

SEDAC population density data was used in a map of the Haiti earthquake.

SEDAC′s role in making climate change data freely available to the public is noted in a collection of articles on how scientists use Earth science data to learn about the planet.

In this blog for the Center Environmental and Security Program (ECSP), CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy talks with ECSP director Geoff Dabelko about using the Gridded Population of the World (GPW) data product to aid in combining population and geographic data.

The report on linkages between climate and migration, In Search of Shelter, is featured in a daily geography quiz of the public radio program, PRI’s The World.

A typically higher standard of living in urban areas compared to rural ones does not rule out striking disparities within cities. SEDAC data from its Global Poverty Mapping Project is used as the basis for this  map. Map 1.2, illustration for Chapter 1--Density, The World Development Report Online 2009.

A map of Burma, based on the SEDAC Gridded Population of the World (GPW) data product, reveals that coastal areas hit hardest by the cyclone in May 2008 were highly populated. (Areas in progressively darker shades of brown represent increased population.)

Map of Pakistan illustrating areas of escalating violence in the Punjab, the country’s most populous province.

Map of school-age children in earthquake zones illustrates an accompanying article: following the recent earthquakes in China, experts assess school safety and the vulnerability of children to earthquakes.

Map of China illustrates an article comparing the location of the Sichuan province earthquakes with population centers in China.

A CNN video newscast refers to a map of the path of Cyclone Nargis and the populations affected, in the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma (Myanmar).

Sensing Our Planet: NASA Earth Science Research Features 2008 features an article on how SEDAC data was used for the 2008 Environmental Performance Index and other environmental assessments; CIESIN’s Marc Levy is interviewed.