Expand sub-menus

Dr. Eleanor (Kellie) Catherine Stokes

Photo of ELEANOR (KELLIE) STOKES

Dr. Eleanor (Kellie) Catherine Stokes

  • RESEARCH SCIENTIST
  • 617.833.0564
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 619
  • COLUMBIA , MD 21044
  • Employer: UNIVERSITIES SPACE RESEARCH ASSN

    • Brief Bio

    Eleanor Stokes is a remote sensing and urban land scientist interested in the planetary impacts of urbanization. Before joining Goddard, she received a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Yale FES working at the urbanization and global change lab, a MS in mechanical engineering at MIT, and a BA from Dartmouth College. During her doctorate, she was a NASA Jenkins fellow, using early data from Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Visible Band to analyze urbanization dynamics and to understand how the changing structure of urban areas shapes sustainability. She is currently acting as science PI of the NASA Black Marble nighttime light product.

    Twitter: @urbanella

    Research Interests

    urbanization dynamics, urban structure and infrastructure, urban climate mitigation and adaptation, urban development, disaster response, urban vulnerability, electricity access, nighttime lights,

    Education

    Ph.D. — Remote Sensing and Urbanization Dynamics, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 2018
    M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006
    B.A., Mathematics, Dartmouth College, 2004

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2019. "Characterizing urban infrastructural transitions for the Sustainable Development Goals using multi-temporal land, population, and nighttime light data." Remote Sensing of Environment, 234: 111430 [10.1016/j.rse.2019.111430]

    Enenkel, M., R. M. Shrestha, E. Stokes, et al. M. Roman, Z. Wang, M. T. Espinosa, I. Hajzmanova, J. Ginnetti, and P. Vinck. 2019. "Emergencies do not stop at night: Advanced analysis of displacement based on satellite-derived nighttime light observations." IBM Journal of Research and Development, 1-1 [10.1147/jrd.2019.2954404]

    Zhu, Z., Y. Zhou, K. C. Seto, et al. E. C. Stokes, C. Deng, S. T. Pickett, and T. . 2019. "Understanding an urbanizing planet: Strategic directions for remote sensing." Remote Sensing of Environment, 228: 164--182 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.04.020]

    Román, M. O., E. C. Stokes, R. Shrestha, et al. Z. Wang, L. Schultz, E. A. Carlo, Q. Sun, J. Bell, A. Molthan, V. Kalb, C. Ji, K. C. Seto, S. N. McClain, and M. Enenkel. 2019. "Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria." PLOS ONE, 14 (6): e0218883 [10.1371/journal.pone.0218883]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2019. "Principles for Minimizing Global Land Impacts of Urbanization." Technology| Architecture+ Design, 3 (1): 5--10 [10.1080/24751448.2019.1571790]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. Seto. 2019. "Characterizing and measuring urban landscapes for sustainability." Environmental Research Letters, 14 (04): 5002 [10.1088/1748-9326/aafab8]

    Román, M. O., Z. Wang, Q. Sun, et al. V. Kalb, S. D. Miller, A. Molthan, L. Schultz, J. Bell, E. C. Stokes, B. Pandey, K. C. Seto, D. Hall, T. Oda, R. E. Wolfe, G. Lin, N. Golpayegani, S. Devadiga, C. Davidson, S. Sarkar, C. Praderas, J. Schmaltz, R. Boller, J. Stevens, O. M. Ramos González, E. Padilla, J. Alonso, Y. Detrés, R. Armstrong, I. Miranda, Y. Conte, N. Marrero, K. MacManus, T. Esch, and E. J. Masuoka. 2018. "NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite." Remote Sensing of Environment, 210: 113-143 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2018. "Tradeoffs in environmental and equity gains from job accessibility." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (42): E9773--E9781.

    Lane, K. J., E. C. Stokes, K. C. Seto, et al. S. Thanikachalam, M. Thanikachalam, and M. L. Bell. 2017. "Associations between greenness, impervious surface area, and nighttime lights on biomarkers of vascular aging in Chennai, India." Environmental health perspectives, 125 (8): 087003.

    Seto, K. C., S. J. Davis, R. B. Mitchell, E. C. Stokes, G. Unruh. 2016. "Carbon lock-in: types, causes, and policy implications." Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41: 425--452.

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2016. "Climate change and urban land systems: bridging the gaps between urbanism and land science." Journal of Land Use Science, 11 (6): 698--708.

    Román, M. O., and E. C. Stokes. 2015. "Holidays in lights: Tracking cultural patterns in demand for energy services." Earth's Future, 3 (6): 182-205 [10.1002/2014ef000285]

    Chester, M. V., J. Sperling, E. Stokes, et al. B. Allenby, K. Kockelman, C. Kennedy, L. A. Baker, J. Keirstead, and C. T. Hendrickson. 2014. "Positioning infrastructure and technologies for low-carbon urbanization." Earth's Future, 2 (10): 533--547.

    Romero-Lankao, P., K. R. Gurney, K. C. Seto, et al. M. Chester, R. M. Duren, S. Hughes, L. R. Hutyra, P. Marcotullio, L. Baker, N. B. Grimm, C. Kennedy, E. Larson, S. Pincetl, D. Runfola, L. Sanchez, G. Shrestha, J. Feddema, A. Sarzynski, J. Sperling, and E. Stokes. 2014. "A critical knowledge pathway to low-carbon, sustainable futures: Integrated understanding of urbanization, urban areas, and carbon." Earth's Future, 2: 515 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1002/2014EF000258]

    Selected Public Outreach

    YTD Highlights 1 / 2019 - Present
    • Google Arts and Culture showcased work from NASA’s Black Marble team in an interactive exhibit called "Satellite Images of the Earth at Night”. The exhibit, using Black Marble nightlight images, highlights how images of the world at night can reveal information about wildfires, fishing boats, holiday activity patterns, electrification, and disaster impacts and response.
    • Media coverage in Forbes, Gizmodo, and Physicsworld discuss the Black Marble Science team's work monitoring power outages and electricity restoration in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
    • NASA’s Black Marble team members Miguel Román (619), Ranjay Shrestha (619/SSAI), Zhuosen Wang (619/UMD), Eleanor Stokes (619/UMD), and Tian Yao (619/SSAI) participated in the MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting, October 15 – 19 in Silver Spring.
    • NASA’s Black Marble product suite (GSFC/619) was featured in the Bloomberg Businessweek article titled “All the Things Satellites Can Now See From Space” published on July 26, 2018. The article aimed to highlight some of the recent remote sensing applications by companies, government agencies, and NGO’s enabled by a new generation of satellites. The specific piece, written by Andre Tarar, featured a NASA study on measuring the effects of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico using the Black Marble product. The article accentuated the significance of the effort by the GSFC team to understand and measure the accuracy of Suomi NPP imagery through in situ measurements in producing the Black Marble product to capture the nighttime image more accurately. With improvements such as filtering out the nonelectric light, the result produced a powerful set of before-and-after images that revealed the devastating extent of power outages and other infrastructure damages post-hurricane Maria.
    • NASA’s Black Marble (GSFC/619) was featured in the released draft Recovery plan titled “Transformation and Innovation in the Wake of Devastation: An Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan for Puerto Rico” produced by the Puerto Rico government. This recovery plan was developed in response to the “Further Additional Supplemental Appropriation for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2018” (Public Law No. 115-123) after the catastrophic damages by Hurricane Irma and Maria in 2017; and the devastating effects on people’s health, safety, and critical infrastructure. The document considered the loss of power and destruction to the electricity grid the most damaging consequences for critical infrastructure resulting in the failure of the entire network and communication systems. Through the Black Marble, areas with significant and prolonged power disturbance were identified and the emergency response as well as short- and long-term recovery plans were staged to restore the power.
    • A contributing article between BBC Arabia and NASA’s Black Marble science team (619), entitled “Syria from Space”, was recently nominated for the prestigious One World Media award under their ‘Best Media’ category. Established in 1988, the One World Media awards recognize the best media coverage of the developing world, reflecting the social, political and cultural life of people around the globe. The awards, to be announced at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) later in June, highlight the unique role of journalists and filmmakers in bridging the divide between cultures worldwide and raising awareness of underreported issues and stories.
    • An article in The Economist magazine (April, 2018) featured work from NASA’s Black Marble Science Team (619) following the recovery of Puerto Rico’s energy sector six months after Hurricane Maria struck the US Territory.

     

    Brief Bio

    Eleanor Stokes is a remote sensing and urban land scientist interested in the planetary impacts of urbanization. Before joining Goddard, she received a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Yale FES working at the urbanization and global change lab, a MS in mechanical engineering at MIT, and a BA from Dartmouth College. During her doctorate, she was a NASA Jenkins fellow, using early data from Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Visible Band to analyze urbanization dynamics and to understand how the changing structure of urban areas shapes sustainability. She is currently acting as science PI of the NASA Black Marble nighttime light product.

    Twitter: @urbanella

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2019. "Characterizing urban infrastructural transitions for the Sustainable Development Goals using multi-temporal land, population, and nighttime light data." Remote Sensing of Environment 234 111430 [10.1016/j.rse.2019.111430]

    Enenkel, M., R. M. Shrestha, E. Stokes, et al. M. Roman, Z. Wang, M. T. Espinosa, I. Hajzmanova, J. Ginnetti, and P. Vinck. 2019. "Emergencies do not stop at night: Advanced analysis of displacement based on satellite-derived nighttime light observations." IBM Journal of Research and Development 1-1 [10.1147/jrd.2019.2954404]

    Zhu, Z., Y. Zhou, K. C. Seto, et al. E. C. Stokes, C. Deng, S. T. Pickett, and T. . 2019. "Understanding an urbanizing planet: Strategic directions for remote sensing." Remote Sensing of Environment 228 164--182 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.04.020]

    Román, M. O., E. C. Stokes, R. Shrestha, et al. Z. Wang, L. Schultz, E. A. Carlo, Q. Sun, J. Bell, A. Molthan, V. Kalb, C. Ji, K. C. Seto, S. N. McClain, and M. Enenkel. 2019. "Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria." PLOS ONE 14 (6): e0218883 [10.1371/journal.pone.0218883]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2019. "Principles for Minimizing Global Land Impacts of Urbanization." Technology| Architecture+ Design 3 (1): 5--10 [10.1080/24751448.2019.1571790]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. Seto. 2019. "Characterizing and measuring urban landscapes for sustainability." Environmental Research Letters 14 (04): 5002 [10.1088/1748-9326/aafab8]

    Román, M. O., Z. Wang, Q. Sun, et al. V. Kalb, S. D. Miller, A. Molthan, L. Schultz, J. Bell, E. C. Stokes, B. Pandey, K. C. Seto, D. Hall, T. Oda, R. E. Wolfe, G. Lin, N. Golpayegani, S. Devadiga, C. Davidson, S. Sarkar, C. Praderas, J. Schmaltz, R. Boller, J. Stevens, O. M. Ramos González, E. Padilla, J. Alonso, Y. Detrés, R. Armstrong, I. Miranda, Y. Conte, N. Marrero, K. MacManus, T. Esch, and E. J. Masuoka. 2018. "NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite." Remote Sensing of Environment 210 113-143 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017]

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2018. "Tradeoffs in environmental and equity gains from job accessibility." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (42): E9773--E9781

    Lane, K. J., E. C. Stokes, K. C. Seto, et al. S. Thanikachalam, M. Thanikachalam, and M. L. Bell. 2017. "Associations between greenness, impervious surface area, and nighttime lights on biomarkers of vascular aging in Chennai, India." Environmental health perspectives 125 (8): 087003

    Seto, K. C., S. J. Davis, R. B. Mitchell, E. C. Stokes, G. Unruh. 2016. "Carbon lock-in: types, causes, and policy implications." Annual Review of Environment and Resources 41 425--452

    Stokes, E. C., and K. C. Seto. 2016. "Climate change and urban land systems: bridging the gaps between urbanism and land science." Journal of Land Use Science 11 (6): 698--708

    Román, M. O., and E. C. Stokes. 2015. "Holidays in lights: Tracking cultural patterns in demand for energy services." Earth's Future 3 (6): 182-205 [10.1002/2014ef000285]

    Chester, M. V., J. Sperling, E. Stokes, et al. B. Allenby, K. Kockelman, C. Kennedy, L. A. Baker, J. Keirstead, and C. T. Hendrickson. 2014. "Positioning infrastructure and technologies for low-carbon urbanization." Earth's Future 2 (10): 533--547

    Romero-Lankao, P., K. R. Gurney, K. C. Seto, et al. M. Chester, R. M. Duren, S. Hughes, L. R. Hutyra, P. Marcotullio, L. Baker, N. B. Grimm, C. Kennedy, E. Larson, S. Pincetl, D. Runfola, L. Sanchez, G. Shrestha, J. Feddema, A. Sarzynski, J. Sperling, and E. Stokes. 2014. "A critical knowledge pathway to low-carbon, sustainable futures: Integrated understanding of urbanization, urban areas, and carbon." Earth's Future 2 515 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1002/2014EF000258]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
    NASA Logo, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    • NASA Official:
    • Curator:
    • Last Updated: 05/20/2022