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"Suomi NPP", "sensor": "VIIRS", "type": "Other", "organizations": [], "description": "", "credit": "", "url": "", "date_range": null } ], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth" ], "keywords": [ "Earth Science", "Environmental Impacts", "HDTV", "Human Dimensions", "Hyperwall", "MODIS", "Night", "Night lights", "population", "Population Estimates", "Presentation", "Urbanization" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 30919, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30919/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "A Changing Earth at Night", "description": "Changes in lights from 2012 to 2016 || BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb_print.jpg (1024x574) [96.1 KB] || BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb_searchweb.png (180x320) [32.4 KB] || BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb_thm.png (80x40) [4.4 KB] || BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb.tif (4104x2304) [3.6 MB] || BlackMarble20162012diff500m.tif (4104x2052) [3.5 MB] || BlackMarble20162012diff500m_huge.tif (86400x43200) [868.6 MB] || a-changing-earth-at-night.hwshow [223 bytes] || ", "release_date": "2017-12-06T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-02-03T00:48:27.297524-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 409185, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030900/a030919/BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb_print.jpg", "filename": "BlackMarble20162012diff500m_cb_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Changes in lights from 2012 to 2016", "width": 1024, "height": 574, "pixels": 587776 } }, { "id": 30886, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30886/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Black Marble 2012 vs. 2016", "description": "Black Marble comparing 2012 lights vs. 2016 lights || black_marble_swipe_1080p.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [58.2 KB] || black_marble_swipe_1080p.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [34.2 KB] || black_marble_swipe_1080p.00001_thm.png (80x40) [3.6 KB] || black_marble_swipe_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [3.5 MB] || black_marble_swipe_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [2.0 MB] || black_marble_swipe_1080p.webm (1920x1080) [7.8 MB] || black_marble_swipe_2304p.mp4 (4096x2304) [11.1 MB] || 4104x2304_16x9_30p (4104x2304) [0 Item(s)] || ", "release_date": "2017-06-28T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-02-02T00:37:07.185676-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 413327, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030800/a030886/black_marble_swipe_1080p.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "black_marble_swipe_1080p.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Black Marble comparing 2012 lights vs. 2016 lights", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 30876, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30876/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Black Marble 2016", "description": "An composite image shows a cloud-free view of Earth || BlackMarble_2016_global_7km_print.jpg (1024x576) [62.9 KB] || BlackMarble_2016_global_7km.png (5760x3240) [6.3 MB] || BlackMarble_2016_global_7km_searchweb.png (180x320) [34.9 KB] || BlackMarble_2016_global_7km_thm.png (80x40) [3.7 KB] || BlackMarble_2016_global_7km.hwshow [222 bytes] || ", "release_date": "2017-04-25T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-02-02T00:36:56.118879-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 414842, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030800/a030876/BlackMarble_2016_global_7km_print.jpg", "filename": "BlackMarble_2016_global_7km_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An composite image shows a cloud-free view of Earth", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 30877, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30877/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Black Marble 2016 (Regions)", "description": "Satellite images of Earth at night—often referred to as \"night lights\"—have been a gee-whiz curiosity for the public and a tool for fundamental research for nearly 25 years. They have provided a broad, beautiful picture, showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness. Produced every decade or so, such maps have spawned hundreds of pop-culture uses and dozens of economic, social science, and environmental research projects. || ", "release_date": "2017-04-25T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-02-02T00:37:02.105245-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 414847, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030800/a030877/BlackMarble_2016_928m_mediterranean_labeled_print.jpg", "filename": "BlackMarble_2016_928m_mediterranean_labeled_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A section of the Black Marble 2016 image centered on the Mediterranean.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 30693, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30693/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Southwestern Europe and Australia at Night 2014-2015", "description": "One way to study the spatial distribution, or arrangement, of human settlements is to view the planet from space during nighttime hours. Scientists have observed the Earth’s lights at night for more than four decades using military satellites and astronaut photography; however, the view became significantly clearer after using satellite data from a low-light sensor onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, launched in October 2011. The satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) “day-night band” can observe dim signals such as city lights (down to the scale of an isolated highway lamp), wildfires, gas flares, auroras, and reflected moonlight during nighttime hours. Swaths of VIIRS data are processed to find moonless, non-cloudy pixels. These “good” pixels are averaged at each location to produce a global image that depicts the Earth’s lights at night. Each pixel shows roughly 0.46 miles (742 meters) across.The top image, centered on France, is a composite of VIIRS data acquired between October 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015. Paris is visible just above the center of the image. North of Paris and across the English Channel (black), London is visible. The relatively dim Alps, characterized by their crescent-shaped geography, are speckled with lights from car headlights and lit roadways. South of the Alps several major cities in Italy are visible with the brightest spot being Milan. Rome is visible in the bottom right of the image. Strings and clusters of light out at sea are produced by ship lights. The second image, centered on France, is a composite of data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) acquired during 2013. Each pixel shows roughly 1.86 miles (3 kilometers) across. The DMSP OLS night-lights data are available starting in 1992, and provide the ability to measure changes in light extent and locations over the past two decades.The image of Australia at night is a composite of VIIRS data acquired between January 1, 2015 and July 31, 2015. Major cities such as Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth are well lit along the coast. Alice Springs—situated in the geographic center of Australia—is some 1,500 kilometers from the nearest major city. Transient lights—those visible in only one monthly image—are colored red. These lights are mainly from brushfires burning during the dry season (May-July) in Australia’s Northern Territory and northern parts of Western Australia. Aside from fires, some of the transient lights could be attributed to natural gas flares, lightning, oil drilling, or mining operations. || ", "release_date": "2015-10-20T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-05T00:26:29.782545-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 432924, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030600/a030693/france_night_lights_201410-201504_print.jpg", "filename": "france_night_lights_201410-201504_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A night lights image centered on France", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 30517, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30517/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Japan at Night", "description": "Data acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite were used to create this nighttime view of Japan and the Korean Peninsula in May 2014. NOAA’s Earth Observation Group creates monthly composite nighttime images from the VIIRS day-night band (DNB) by combining cloud-free data from nights without moonlight (i.e., during the new moon phase). Here the monthly composite image has been combined with a cloud-free MODIS image that has been modified to appear more “night-like” to highlight the Earth’s land surface.City lights make several urban centers easily discernable. For example, Tokyo, Japan, located on the southeastern side of the main island, is the brightest location on the image. It is also the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Clusters of light out at sea—particularly in and around the Korean Straight—are produced by the lights from hundreds of fishing boats engaged in night fishing. One such cluster surrounds Jeju Island, South Korea—a popular tourist destination—where fishermen shine torchlights on the water to attract squid, a traditional Jeju food. The reason the lights are so prominent around the island in this image is because the time the data were collected (i.e., May during new moon) overlaps with one of the peak fishing seasons for this region—spring, during new moon. || ", "release_date": "2014-07-28T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-06T00:33:54.471310-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 430566, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030500/a030517/npp_20140501_20140531_viirs_dnb_print.jpg", "filename": "npp_20140501_20140531_viirs_dnb_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Land and water cannot be differentiated using VIIRS DNB imagery acquired on un-moonlit nights.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 30082, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30082/", "page_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "title": "Rotating Earth at Night", "description": "This new space-based view of Earth’s city lights is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. The data was acquired over nine days in April 2012 and thirteen days in October 2012. It took the satellite 312 orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands. This new data was then mapped over existing MODIS Blue Marble imagery to provide a realistic view of the planet. The view was made possible by the “day-night band” of Suomi NPP’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses “smart” light sensors to observe dim signals such as city lights, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. This low-light sensor can distinguish night lights tens to hundreds of times better than previous satellites. || ", "release_date": "2013-10-04T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-06T01:57:26.369292-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 428528, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030000/a030082/viirs_dnb_night_lights_rotating_earth_print.jpg", "filename": "viirs_dnb_night_lights_rotating_earth_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Earth at night created with Suomi NPP data from April and October 2012.", "width": 1024, "height": 574, "pixels": 587776 } }, { "id": 2276, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2276/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Earth at Night 2001", "description": "This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The above image is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures made by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) currently operates four satellites carrying the Operational Linescan System (OLS) in low-altitude polar orbits. Three of these satellites record nighttime data. The DMSP-OLS has a unique capability to detect low levels of visible-near infrared (VNIR) radiance at night. With the OLS 'VIS' band data it is possible to detect clouds illuminated by moonlight, plus lights from cities, towns, industrial sites, gas flares, and ephemeral events such as fires and lightning-illuminated clouds.The Nighttime Lights of the World data set is compiled from the October 1994 - March 1995 DMSP nighttime data collected when moonlight was low. Using the OLS thermal infrared band, areas containing clouds were removed and the remaining area used in the time series. This animation is derived from an image created by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon from data provided by Christopher Elvidge of the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. || ", "release_date": "2001-10-19T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:57:53.120144-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 530346, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002200/a002276/europe_night_web.jpg", "filename": "europe_night_web.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe.", "width": 320, "height": 240, "pixels": 76800 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }