Overview
- NASA’s Black Marble project published new global maps and animations that track how artificial light changed from 2014 to 2022.
- A peer-reviewed study in Nature finds global radiance rose about 34% over the period, with local declines that researchers say offset gains by roughly 18%.
- Brightening concentrated in China and northern India aligns with rapid urban expansion, while dimming stands out across France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
- European nights dimmed sharply in 2022 during a regional energy crisis following the Russia–Ukraine conflict, showing how large shocks leave clear signals from space.
- Black Marble combines VIIRS sensors on the Suomi‑NPP, NOAA‑20, and NOAA‑21 satellites and filters clouds and moonlight to create daily, monthly, and yearly records now available for download.