2016/09/05 by Fabio Falchi, Pierantonio Cinzano, Dan Duriscoe +6 · 1 voice · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.IM #physics.ao-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600377
published as Sci. Adv. 2016; 2:e1600377 · 26 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables
arxiv created 2016/09/05 · arxiv published 2016/09/05 · arxiv updated 2016/09/06
Artificial lights raise night sky luminance, creating the most visible effect of light pollution-artificial skyglow. Despite the increasing interest among scientists in fields such as ecology, astronomy, health care, and land-use planning, light pollution lacks a current quantification of its magnitude on a global scale. To overcome this, we present the world atlas of artificial sky luminance, computed with our light pollution propagation software using new high-resolution satellite data and new precision sky brightness measurements. This atlas shows that more than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. Moreover, 23% of the world's land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S, 88% of Europe, and almost half of the United States experience light-polluted nights.