This composite image of the Americas at night shows large concentrations of human activity and urban infrastructure. It was produced by researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center using night lights data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, a NASA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mission. The researchers wrote a code to pick the clearest night views over many months, combining them to provide moonlight-free and -corrected images. The clouds and sunglint, added for aesthetic effect, are derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface and cloud cover products. The researchers analyze night lights data and develop software algorithms that make night lights imagery clearer, more accurate and readily available.
NASA’s Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens, NASA GSFC/Miguel Román
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Science_2018_Commemorative_Calendar.pdf" title="File:NASA Science 2018 Commemorative Calendar.pdf">NASA Science 2018 Commemorative Calendar.pdf</a>