{"id":10347,"date":"2026-05-15T15:47:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=10347"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:47:24","slug":"nasa-maps-show-earths-brightest-and-darkest-regions-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=10347","title":{"rendered":"NASA maps show Earth’s brightest and darkest regions at night"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New maps from NASA using nearly a decade’s worth of data show how the use of artificial light has shifted over the years. \u00a0<\/p>\n

To make the maps, NASA researchers analyzed data collected by its “Black Marble” program, which uses a specialized sensor to capture low-light imagery of Earth at night. The data was collected by three different satellites between 2014 and 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers expected to find “a gradual increase in artificial light at night” over the years, NASA said in a news release. What they discovered was “much more nuanced patterns” of light radiance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The analysis portrays a world flickering with industrial booms and busts, construction, and blackouts, as well as more gradual shifts, such as policy-driven retrofits,” NASA said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A rendition of the Black Marble data collected by NASA. Purple shows spots of dimming, while gold shows spots of brightening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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NASA Earth Observatory\/Michala Garrison<\/p>\n

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The researchers found that each location examined by the sensors underwent several distinct shifts over the nine years data was collected. During that time, radiance increased 34%, while dimming offset it by 18%, the researchers said. Both lighting and dimming “markedly intensified over the past decade,” the researchers said in a study published in the academic journal Nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This evidence of increasing volatility in human night-time activity provides an important dynamic dimension for understanding urban evolution, energy transitions, policy impacts and ecological consequences of rapidly changing illuminated nights,” the researchers wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the United States, West Coast cities grew brighter as populations increased. On the East Coast, there was more dimming, which the researchers attributed to the use of energy-efficient lightbulbs and “broader economic restructuring.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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An analysis of the Black Marble data collected by NASA. Purple shows spots of dimming, while gold shows spots of brightening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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NASA Earth Observatory\/Michala Garrison<\/p>\n

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Worldwide, nights grew brighter in China and northern India, as urban development expanded. Throughout Europe, there was a pattern of dimming likely caused by energy conservation measures, and a sharp drop-off in 2022 after the war in Ukraine led to a regional energy crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This global, high-resolution analysis … refines and expands our understanding of how humanity is altering the night environment,” the researchers wrote in their published paper. “Our findings show that the human light footprint is not a universally expanding entity but a dynamic system, characterized by the pervasive coexistence of brightening and dimming.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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