A 10 km resolution image of the entire night-time Earth based on cloud-free satellite photographs in the 400–1100 nm band

Abstract

An image of the entire Earth at night is assembled for the first time. It consists of a mosaic of photographs, all taken at local midnight in the 400–1100 nm band, made by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program over the period 1974–84. Photographs were selected for freedom from clouds, lack of moonlight, high sensitivity and suitability to illustrate various temporal phenomena. The image primarily reveals activities of humankind such as urban street lighting, rangeland burning, slash-and-burn agriculture, natural gas burn-offs in oil fields, and squidding.