Earth at Night: Nighttime Lights Map
With Off-Nadir Delta, you can view and analyze NASA VIIRS Black Marble nighttime imagery. Track urban development, economic activity, and power infrastructure directly in your browser.
Quick answer — what nighttime lights show
NASA VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2) captures artificial light at night. ~500m resolution, daily global coverage, from the VIIRS Day/Night Band on Suomi NPP. Use for urban monitoring, power outage detection, economic analysis. The NASA data is open; in Off-Nadir Delta the VIIRS layer is plan-gated (see Pricing).
Global Coverage
View nighttime imagery for any location on Earth, from cities to remote regions.
Power Monitoring
Detect power outages and infrastructure changes by comparing light intensity.
Development Tracking
Monitor urban expansion and economic development through light patterns.
Technical Specifications
NASA Black Marble Products
VNP46A2 (Daily)
Moonlight and atmosphere-corrected nighttime radiance. Cloud-masked with gap-filling for analysis-ready data.
Satellite
VNP46A2 is produced from the VIIRS Day/Night Band on Suomi NPP (launched 2011), which is the source served here.
Applications
Power Outage Detection
Identify affected areas after storms, earthquakes, or grid failures
Urban Development
Track city growth and infrastructure expansion over years
Economic Analysis
Light intensity correlates with economic activity and GDP
Conflict Monitoring
Assess humanitarian situations through infrastructure status
Data Sources & Attribution
VIIRS Nighttime Lights
NASA Black Marble (VNP46A2)
Accessed via NASA Earthdata CMR API
Citation
"NASA Black Marble VNP46A2"
License: NASA Open Data Policy (free for all uses)
How It Works
Navigate to Your Area
Pan and zoom to any city, region, or country.
Search for VIIRS Data
Select date range to find nighttime imagery.
Add to Map
View nighttime lights with customizable brightness.
Analyze Patterns
Compare dates to detect changes in illumination.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is VIIRS Black Marble?▼
What resolution is available?▼
How often is new data available?▼
Can I detect power outages?▼
What does light intensity indicate?▼
Related Resources
Change Detection
Compare before & after
Learn moreSentinel-2 Viewer
Daytime optical imagery
Learn moreSentinel-1 SAR
Radar for any weather
Learn moreGlossary
VIIRS, DNB terminology
Learn morePricing
Which plans include VIIRS
Learn moreVIIRS Time Series Monitoring
Economic activity tracking from space
Learn moreWhat Nighttime Lights Tell Us
Applications and pitfalls of DNB data
Learn moreExplore Nighttime Lights
View Earth at night in your browser — NASA data, no installation required. The VIIRS layer is included on the plans listed in Pricing. Or see live power outages, conflict, and disaster signals prioritized on the Watchfloor.
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