nighttime lights
5 articlesNight Lights, SO2, Earthquakes and Cyclones: Four Measured Events and What Each One Can and Cannot Tell You
Four kinds of event built from instruments and official records instead of news: a city's night lights, sulfur dioxide over a volcano, an earthquake near a facility, and a cyclone's forecast wind field. What each records, and what it leaves open.
2026-10-08 · 9 min read
Post-Disaster Recovery Monitoring with Satellite Time Series
Satellite time series monitoring tracks the recovery trajectory after floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters. Learn how NDVI, SAR backscatter, NDWI, and nighttime lights collectively reveal what has recovered, what has not, and where recovery is lagging.
2026-04-04 · 8 min read
Monitoring Economic Activity and Infrastructure with VIIRS Nighttime Light Time Series
VIIRS nighttime light (DNB) time series from NASA Black Marble tracks economic activity, electrification, conflict impacts, and post-disaster recovery. Learn how to monitor any area's nighttime brightness over time and interpret what changes mean.
2026-03-30 · 9 min read
What Nighttime Lights Tell Us About Cities (And What They Don't)
VIIRS nighttime radiance data is a powerful proxy for human activity, but it has real limitations. This post covers practical applications, common pitfalls, and how to extract meaningful insights from nocturnal satellite observations.
2026-01-08 · 6 min read
Population Estimation from Satellite Imagery: Counting People from Space
How satellite-derived building footprints, nighttime lights, and land use data enable population estimation in areas without census data. Covers gridded population datasets, methods, and humanitarian applications.
2025-09-30 · 7 min read