VIIRS procedures nighttime light emissions and reflections through its day/night band. The information are processed by researchers in the USRA-GSFC Black Marble Project to account for modifications in the landscape, the environment, and the Moon phase, and to filter out stray light from sources that are not electrical lights.
” Because VIIRS DNB satellite data is worldwide in scope, it is especially beneficial for assessment of the effects of large-scale disasters like this twister,” said Kellie Stokes, a USRA scientist in The Black Marble Project. “Though these images reveal only towns in Kentucky, interruptions were perceived by Black Marble across a big swath in the Midwest and as far north as the Great Lakes. The Black Marble item is available in near-real time– within about 3 to 5 hours– making it typically among the very first datasets readily available for disaster evaluations, particularly in remote locations.”
Accuracy is crucial for studies with night lights. Raw, unprocessed images can be misleading because moonlight, clouds, contamination, seasonal vegetation– even the position of the satellite– can alter how light is reflected and can distort observations of human-made lights.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Black Marble information thanks to Ranjay Shrestha/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey.
December 12, 2021
Twisters and severe winds knocked out power to Mayfield and surrounding towns.
On the night of December 10-11, 2021, a potent storm front and lots of tornadoes blew throughout the midwestern United States, killing more than a hundred people and damaging homes and services across at least 4 states. One of the worst-hit areas was western Kentucky near the town of Mayfield. Since December 15, nearly half of the customers in Graves County were still without power.
The maps above show nighttime light emissions prior to and after the severe storms passed through Kentucky. A team of researchers from the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) processed and examined information from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA– NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The base map was constructed from data gathered by the Landsat 8 satellite. The November image is a composite of lighting throughout the month, representing the baseline, pre-storm conditions.
The maps above show nighttime light emissions prior to and after the extreme storms passed through Kentucky. VIIRS steps nighttime light emissions and reflections through its day/night band. The data are processed by researchers in the USRA-GSFC Black Marble Project to account for modifications in the landscape, the atmosphere, and the Moon phase, and to filter out stray light from sources that are not electrical lights.
