Image:Earthlights dmsp.jpg

Composite image of the Earth at night, created by NASA and NOAA.

NASA Description: This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface.

The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the centre of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region.

Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark, but lights are beginning to appear there. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya. Also noticeable is the dramatic contrast in light emission between South Korea and North Korea.

Visualization Date: 2000-10-23

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This image was selected as a picture of the day for March 11, 2006. It was captioned as followed: English: Composite image of the Earth at night Deutsch: Die Erde bei Nacht (zusammengesetztes Bild) Français : Image composée de la terre la nuit. Español: Imagen compuesta de la Tierra de noche Alemannisch: Zommegsetzts Bild vun de Erd bie Nacht Български: Съставно изображение на Земята нощем Česky: Složený satelitní snímek Země v noci Deutsch: Die Erde bei Nacht (zusammengesetztes Bild) English: Composite image of the Earth at night Español: Imagen compuesta de la Tierra de noche Suomi: Mosaiikkikuva öisestä maapallosta. Français : Image composée de la terre la nuit. Galego: A Terra de noite Magyar : Kompozíció a Föld éjszakai felvételeiből 日本語: 夜の 地球の合成写真 Lëtzebuergesch : D'Äerd bei Nuecht. ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬: Sammensatt bilde av jorden om natten. ‪Norsk (nynorsk)‬: Samansett bilete av jorda om natta. Polski: Mozaika zdjęć satelitarnych Ziemi wykonanych w nocy. Português: Imagem composta de Terra à noite Русский: Земля ночью (составное изображение) Српски / Srpski: Састављена слика Земље ноћу 简体中文: 地球夜景合成照片

Source

The original TIFF image can be found at
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/1438/land_lights_16384.tif
16384w x 8192h, 40.6 MB, colour (true)

Image description from http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=1438

Credit

Data courtesy Marc Imhoff of NASA GSFC and Christopher Elvidge of NOAA NGDC. Image by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC.

This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". ( NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy). Warnings: Use of NASA logos (which include the current "meatball" logo, the old "worm" logo, and the seal) is restricted. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/ Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not in the public domain. Materials from the Hubble Space Telescope may be copyrighted if they do not explicitly come from the STScI. All materials created by the SOHO probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted.

This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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