The Arctic is shaped by its cold, harsh climate and limited daylight hours during winter. But the typically frigid region is warming about four times faster than the rest of the planet, which has facilitated more transportation and increased development.
The Arctic is shaped by its cold, harsh climate and limited daylight hours during winter. But the typically frigid region is warming about four times faster than the rest of the planet, which has facilitated more transportation and increased development. To better understand changing human activity in the region, scientists are looking at the far northern latitudes at night.
When darkness spans vast areas of the planet’s land and oceans in the nighttime hours, some signs of human activities become easier to spot. Satellite observations of lights shining from buildings, roads, and other infrastructure reveal patterns of human presence and development.
Using nighttime satellite data, an international team of researchers found that between 1992 and 2013, the Arctic became 5% brighter per year, culminating in about 605,000 square kilometers (234,000 square miles) that had transformed from dark to lit.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Wanmei Liang, NASA
