Earth at Night Imagery

An composite image shows a cloud-free view of Earth || 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.This image of Earth at night in 2016 was created with data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched in October 2011 by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Each pixel shows roughly 0.46 miles (742 meters) across. Scientists use the Suomi NPP night-lights dataset in many ways. Some applications include: forecasting a city’s energy use and carbon emissions; eradicating energy poverty and fostering sustainable energy development; providing immediate information when disasters strike; and monitoring the effects of conflict and population displacement. Scientists at NASA are working to automate nighttime VIIRS data processing so that data users are able to view nighttime imagery within hours of acquisition, which could lead to other potential uses by research, meteorological, and civic groups. ||

A rotating globe rendered from the blackmarble 2016 image. || 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.This image of Earth at night in 2016 was created with data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched in October 2011 by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Each pixel shows roughly 0.46 miles (742 meters) across. Scientists use the Suomi NPP night-lights dataset in many ways. Some applications include: forecasting a city’s energy use and carbon emissions; eradicating energy poverty and fostering sustainable energy development; providing immediate information when disasters strike; and monitoring the effects of conflict and population displacement. Scientists at NASA are working to automate nighttime VIIRS data processing so that data users are able to view nighttime imagery within hours of acquisition, which could lead to other potential uses by research, meteorological, and civic groups. ||

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. || A section of the Black Marble 2016 image centered on the Mediterranean. ||

Black Marble comparing 2012 lights vs. 2016 lights || 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.These images of Earth at night in 2012 and 2016 were created with data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched in October 2011 by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Each pixel shows roughly 0.46 miles (742 meters) across.Scientists use the Suomi NPP night-lights dataset in many ways. Some applications include: forecasting a city’s energy use and carbon emissions; eradicating energy poverty and fostering sustainable energy development; providing immediate information when disasters strike; and monitoring the effects of conflict and population displacement. Scientists at NASA are working to automate nighttime VIIRS data processing so that data users are able to view nighttime imagery within hours of acquisition, which could lead to other potential uses by research, meteorological, and civic groups. ||

Changes in lights from 2012 to 2016 || This image shows the change in lighting intensity from 2012 to 2016. The map was created using two separate night lights datasets (from 2012 and 2016) derived using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. Each pixel represents 500 meters (1640 feet), or approximately six city blocks. Dark purple represents areas with new light since 2012, while dark orange represents areas where light existed in 2012 but no longer exists in 2016. Areas where lighting intensity stayed the same between 2012 and 2016 appear white. Varying shades of purple and orange indicate areas that have become brighter or dimmer since 2012, respectively.Scientists use the Suomi NPP night lights dataset in many ways. Some applications include: forecasting a city’s energy use and carbon emissions, eradicating energy poverty and fostering sustainable energy development, providing immediate information when disasters strike, and monitoring the effects of conflict and population displacement.In recent years, India has undergone rapid electrification (purple). In Syria, six years of war have had a devastating effect on millions of its people. One of the most catastrophic impacts has been on the country’s electricity network. Lights have gone out (orange) during the course of the conflict, leaving people to survive with little to no power. In Nigeria, light from gas flaring activity decreased from 2012 to 2016 (orange), largely due to international agreements acted on by the country. ||

NASA’s Black Marble products are also being used by scientists and decision-makers to monitor gradual changes driven by urbanization, out-migration, economic changes, and electrification. These images show the rapid electrification of India’s rural settlements in recent years. Huge swaths of northern India, relatively dark in 2012 night shots, are lit up in NASA’s Black Marble imagery from 2016. || These images show the change in lighting intensity from 2012 to 2016 in several regions of interest. The maps were created using two separate night lights datasets (from 2012 and 2016) derived using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. Each pixel represents 500 meters (1640 feet), or approximately six city blocks. Dark purple represents areas with new light since 2012, while dark orange represents areas where light existed in 2012 but no longer exists in 2016. Areas where lighting intensity stayed the same between 2012 and 2016 appear white. Varying shades of purple and orange indicate areas that have become brighter or dimmer since 2012, respectively.Scientists use the Suomi NPP night lights dataset in many ways. Some applications include: forecasting a city’s energy use and carbon emissions, eradicating energy poverty and fostering sustainable energy development, providing immediate information when disasters strike, and monitoring the effects of conflict and population displacement.In recent years, India has undergone rapid electrification (purple). In Syria, six years of war have had a devastating effect on millions of its people. One of the most catastrophic impacts has been on the country’s electricity network. Lights have gone out (orange) during the course of the conflict, leaving people to survive with little to no power. In Nigeria, light from gas flaring activity decreased from 2012 to 2016 (orange), largely due to international agreements acted on by the country. On the Korean peninsula, the border between North and South Korea is apparent. While South Korea is gleaming with city lights, North Korea has hardly any lights at all beyond a faint glimmer around Pyongyang. The light from fishing boats is also visible. ||

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. ||