Europe City Lights Stock Image
by drmglc
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. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. The Earth Observatory describe how N.A.S.A. scientists use city light data to map urbanization. N.A.S.A. Public Image Edited.
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Keywords
- background
- energy
- clean energy
- ambient
- lights
- earth
- nature
- urban areaearth
- lighting
- city
- europe
- europa
- euro
- environment
- energy
- clean energy
- protect the environment
- light
- lights
- night
- night
- space
- landscape
- respect
- respect the planet
- planet
- planet earth
- viewed from above
- aerial view
- view space telescope satellite defense
- weather satellite
- meteorology
- defense
- north
- south
- england
- Italy
- ols
- ols
- dmsp
- dmsp