Night From Space

[Wishblade]

I just recently downloaded the google earth 'black marble' overlay which shows the night lights of earth taken by satellite between April and October of this year. Here is a screenshot I took of the maritimes zoomed in:

[SignalHillHiker]

Very cool.

Here's a video from the ISS as it passes up the Atlantic coast of North America.

This a screen cap of Newfoundland from the video:



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundla...9/nl-nasa-space-station-209.html?cmp=rss

[MonctonRad]

Neat. I like how you can see the lights on the Confederation Bridge.

[Townie709]

The lights on the Confederation Bridge are indeed very cool! Wishblade, would you mind taking one that includes Newfoundland as well?

[Wishblade]

Originally Posted by Townie709

The lights on the Confederation Bridge are indeed very cool! Wishblade, would you mind taking one that includes Newfoundland as well?

Sure thing, here it is.
This image also includes Quebec City and Montreal on the lower left.



I might as well post this here as well. It is a high resolution image of the entire planet:
http://eoimages2.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/im...5/dnb_land_ocean_ice.2012.13500x6750.jpg

[JHikka]

The vertical line down North America is pretty remarkable.

[mylesmalley]

Here's a link to the full globe as an image.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/712130main_8246931247_e60f3c09fb_o.jpg

[Good2go]

I had no idea so many people lived on the Magdalen Islands (13000+).

[J_Murphy]

Wow...this is so cool.!

[Architype]

Very neat.
You can also see the oil sites to the southeast looking like cities.

[SignalHillHiker]

It really is depressing to see how bad the suburban sprawl in St. John's is. It looks like we take up a similar amount of space as Halifax for half as many people.

[Townie709]

At least we don't take as much space as Toronto or Montreal! I never noticed the oil sites in the ocean before, but that is very cool!

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Townie709

At least we don't take as much space as Toronto or Montreal! I never noticed the oil sites in the ocean before, but that is very cool!

yeah that was super suprising to me .. the sheer size it occupies .. is larger than the avalon peninsula!
edit: at second glance like half the size of the island! LOL



and I noticed the oil rigs too!! VERY cool!! (like mini cities in the sea)

[someone123]

Interesting.

These aren't so great for determining how sprawly one place or another is. A lot of the lighting isn't residential, and there can be big differences depending on the type of lighting or how much lighting different areas have. Cities that switch to LED lights will presumably produce less light pollution for example.

I also suspect that, in reality, the difference in light levels between the urban areas and small towns or rural areas are orders of magnitude larger than they appear. Times Square and Ecum Secum might both get a fully-saturated pixel but one emits dramatically more light.

[Architype]

^ Aside from the offshore, some industrial sites are visible in Newfoundland if you know where to look, Long Harbour, Come by Chance, & Bull Arm look like towns of 5 to 20 thousand. I expect industry also accounts for much of the lights you see elsewhere. In Nova Scotia, CBRM looks like a major city as large as Halifax.

[someone123]

One of the brightest areas in some night photos like these is in the Sea of Japan. The light is from the squid fishing boats, which I guess use it to attract them to the surface. Some photos don't have it; I'm not sure if that's because it's only seasonal or if they are edited. I wouldn't be surprised if the lights are edited and then superimposed onto another dimmed shot of the surface.

[mylesmalley]

Originally Posted by Architype

^ Aside from the offshore, some industrial sites are visible in Newfoundland if you know where to look, Long Harbour, Come by Chance, & Bull Arm look like towns of 5 to 20 thousand. I expect industry also accounts for much of the lights you see elsewhere. In Nova Scotia, CBRM looks like a major city as large as Halifax.

Sept Iles and Labrador City look enormous compared to what they actually are.

[kwajo]

Focused in on some of the key urban areas of the Maritimes, and messed with the levels a bit so you could see the details better.

[MonctonRad]

No offence to the residents of northern NB, Cape Breton or southwestern NS, but this image captures that portion of the Maritimes that really matters.



There are about 1.25M people living in the central Maritimes, which corresponds very well to the confines of this image. This is where future growth in the region will be concentrated. This is where investment will get the biggest bang for the buck.

I don't mean to say we should abandon the extremities of the region (we shouldn't). We should be careful though to make sure that any regional development dollars that are spent make sense.

EDIT - it would be nice if this image extended a little further east to also include New Glasgow and Antigonish. I consider them part of the central Maritimes too.

[Dmajackson]

^Judging by how bright Shediac and Pugwash are in the photos these had to be taken in summertime probably on a weekend.

Also its cool to see Keji in the original photo. There's been some push to get it designated as a stargazing area and looking at how dark it is I think its been achieved! You can actually make out the outline of the lakes in the park.