# Nightlights radiometry
*sensing . methodologies*

Measures calibrated night-time visible to near-infrared radiance from low-light imagers, supporting economic activity, electrification, outage, urbanisation, and light-pollution analyses.

## Specifications
- **family**: Multispectral
- **requirements envelope**: {"kind":"spectral","spectral_range_nm":{"min":500,"max":900},"bands_min":1,"calibration_tier_min":"low-light radiometric calibration with lunar, cloud, snow, and atmospheric screening","daylight_required":false,"cloud_tolerant":false,"gsd_max":750,"cadence_max_days":1}
- **entity type**: methodology
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-08
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **subtype**: sensing
- **attributes**: {"family":"Multispectral","kind":"sensing","summary":"Measures calibrated night-time visible to near-infrared radiance from low-light imagers, supporting economic activity, electrification, outage, urbanisation, and light-pollution analyses.","requirements_envelope":"{\"kind\":\"spectral\",\"spectral_range_nm\":{\"min\":500,\"max\":900},\"bands_min\":1,\"calibration_tier_min\":\"low-light radiometric calibration with lunar, cloud, snow, and atmospheric screening\",\"daylight_required\":false,\"cloud_tolerant\":false,\"gsd_max\":750,\"cadence_max_days\":1}"}
- **technology**: optical-spectral-sensing
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
Nightlights radiometry measures night-time upward radiance from artificial and natural light sources using low-light visible/NIR imaging. VIIRS Day-Night Band products improved calibration and spatial resolution over DMSP-OLS, while Black Marble adds corrections for lunar illumination, atmosphere, clouds, snow, and other confounders.[^nasa-laads-nighttime-lights][^nasa-black-marble] It is a strong proxy for economic activity and infrastructure state, but it misses unlit activity and can be biased by lighting technology, saturation, fires, aurora, moonlight residuals, and viewing geometry.

## Sources
- [nasa-laads-nighttime-lights] | Nighttime Lights | https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/science-domain/nighttime-lights | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-08 | author=NASA LAADS DAAC
- [nasa-black-marble] | NASA VIIRS Land Products: Black Marble | https://viirsland.gsfc.nasa.gov/Products/NASA/BlackMarble.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-08 | author=NASA VIIRS Land Products

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/methodologies/nightlights-radiometry
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)