Table 2 Mapping covariates used in the modelling [17]

Population

 Access

Travel time to cities with greater than 50,000 population via all transport methods

http://forobs.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Static

2000

 NTL

VIIRS nighttime lights

http://ngdc.noaa.gov/eog/

Static

2012

 GPW

Gridded population of the world (GPW) population density

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/

Static

2010

Physical earth

 Elevation

Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) near—global digital elevation models (DEMs)

http://webmap.ornl.gov/

Static

2000

Environment

 Aridity

Mean annual aridity

http://csi.cgiar.org/Aridity/

Synoptic

1950–2000

 PRECIP

Average monthly rainfall

http://www.worldclim.org/

Synoptic

1950–2000

 EVI

Enhanced vegetation index

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014

 LST.day

Land surface temperature in the daytime

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014

 LST.delta

Land surface temperature daily fluctuation range

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014

 LST.night

Land surface temperature in the nighttime

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014

 PET

Mean annual potential evapotranspiration

http://csi.cgiar.org/Aridity/

Synoptic

1950–2000

 TCB

Tasseled—cap brightness

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014

 TCW

Tasseled—cap wetness

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Multitemporal

2001–2014