High-Resolution Maps of Material Stocks in Buildings and Infrastructures in Austria and Germany

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c05642
• Publication Date: 2021-02-19T15:51:51Z
• Authors: Helmut Haberl; Dominik Wiedenhofer; Franz Schug; David Frantz; Doris Virág; Christoph Plutzar; Karin Gruhler; Jakob Lederer; Georg Schiller; Tomer Fishman; Maud Lanau; Andreas Gattringer; Thomas Kemper; Gang Liu; Hiroki Tanikawa; Sebastian van der...; Patrick Hostert
• Keywords: Cadastre; Thematic map; Earth observation; Tracing; Stock (firearms)

The dynamics of societal material stocks such as buildings and infrastructures their spatial patterns drive surging resource use emissions. Two main types data are currently used to map stocks, night-time lights (NTL) from Earth-observing (EO) satellites cadastral information. We present an alternative approach for broad-scale stock mapping based on freely available high-resolution EO imagery OpenStreetMap data. Maps built-up surface area, building height, were derived optical Sentinel-2 radar Sentinel-1 satellite Austria Germany. Using intensity factors, we calculated the mass different infrastructures, distinguishing eight materials, at 10 m resolution. total in 2018 amounted ∼5 Gt ∼38 Germany (AT: ∼540 t/cap, DE: ∼450 t/cap). Cross-checks with independent sources various scales suggested that method may yield more complete results than other but could not rule out possible overestimations. yields thematic differentiations NTL, avoids costly data, is suitable larger areas tracing trends over time.