Multiple Angle Observations Would Benefit Visible Band Remote Sensing Using Night Lights
Aubé, Martin
Bará, Salvador
Bertolo, Andrea
Bouroussis, Constantinos A.
Cavazzani, Stefano
Espey, Brian R.
Falchi, Fabio
Gyuk, Geza
Jechow, Andreas
Kocifaj, Miroslav
Kolláth, Zoltán
Lamphar, Héctor
Levin, Noam
Liu, Shengjie
Miller, Steven D.
Ortolani, Sergio
Jason Pun, Chun Shing
Ribas, Salvador José
Ruhtz, Thomas
Sánchez de Miguel, Alejandro
Schneider, Mathias
Shrestha, Ranjay Man
Simoneau, Alexandre
So, Chu Wing
Storch, Tobias
Tong, Kai Pong
Tuñón, Milagros
Turnshek, Diane
Walczak, Ken
Wang, Jun
Wang, Zhuosen
Zhang, Jianglong
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD036382
Persistent URL: http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/10243
Bará, Salvador; 3 Area de Optica Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) Compostela Spain
Bertolo, Andrea; 4 Regional Environmental Protection Agency of Veneto Via Ospedale Civile 24 Padova Italy
Bouroussis, Constantinos A.; 5 Lighting Laboratory National Technical University of Athens Athens Greece
Cavazzani, Stefano; 6 Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Padova Padova Italy
Espey, Brian R.; 8 School of Physics Trinity College DublinCollege Green Dublin Ireland
Falchi, Fabio; 9 ISTIL ‐ Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia dell’Inquinamento Luminoso Via Roma 13 Thiene Italy
Gyuk, Geza; 10 The Adler Planetarium 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr Chicago IL USA
Jechow, Andreas; 11 Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin Germany
Kocifaj, Miroslav; 12 ICA Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia
Kolláth, Zoltán; 14 Department of Physics Eszterházy Károly University Leányka út 6‐7 Eger Hungary
Lamphar, Héctor; 12 ICA Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia
Levin, Noam; 16 The Department of Geography The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mt Scopus Jerusalem Israel
Liu, Shengjie; 18 Spatial Sciences Institute University of Southern California Los Angeles CA USA
Miller, Steven D.; 19 Department of Atmospheric Science and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA
Ortolani, Sergio; 6 Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Padova Padova Italy
Jason Pun, Chun Shing; 20 Department of Physics The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Hong Kong
Ribas, Salvador José; 21 Parc Astronòmic Montsec ‐ Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya Lleida Spain
Ruhtz, Thomas; 22 Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany
Sánchez de Miguel, Alejandro; 23 Depto. Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos (IPARCOS) Universidad Complutense Madrid Spain
Schneider, Mathias; 25 German Aerospace Center (DLR) Earth Observation Center (EOC) Weßling Germany
Shrestha, Ranjay Man; 26 Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Lanham MD USA
Simoneau, Alexandre; 28 Université de Sherbrooke 2500 Boulevard de l’Université Sherbrooke QC Canada
So, Chu Wing; 20 Department of Physics The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Hong Kong
Storch, Tobias; 25 German Aerospace Center (DLR) Earth Observation Center (EOC) Weßling Germany
Tong, Kai Pong; 12 ICA Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia
Tuñón, Milagros; 1 German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ Potsdam Germany
Turnshek, Diane; 29 Physics Department Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA USA
Walczak, Ken; 10 The Adler Planetarium 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr Chicago IL USA
Wang, Jun; 30 Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering College of Engineering Iwoa City IA USA
Wang, Zhuosen; 27 Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
Zhang, Jianglong; 32 Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of North Dakota Grand Forks ND USA
Abstract
The spatial and angular emission patterns of artificial and natural light emitted, scattered, and reflected from the Earth at night are far more complex than those for scattered and reflected solar radiation during daytime. In this commentary, we use examples to show that there is additional information contained in the angular distribution of emitted light. We argue that this information could be used to improve existing remote sensing retrievals based on night lights, and in some cases could make entirely new remote sensing analyses possible. This work will be challenging, so we hope this article will encourage researchers and funding agencies to pursue further study of how multi‐angle views can be analyzed or acquired.
Plain Language Summary: When satellites take images of Earth, they usually do so from directly above (or as close to it as is reasonably possible). In this comment, we show that for studies that use imagery of Earth at night, it may be beneficial to take several images of the same area at different angles within a short period of time. For example, different types of lights shine in different directions (street lights usually shine down, while video advertisements shine sideways), and tall buildings can block the view of a street from some viewing angles. Additionally, since views from different directions pass through different amounts of air, imagery at multiple angles could be used to obtain information about Earth's atmosphere, and measure artificial and natural night sky brightness. The main point of the paper is to encourage researchers, funding agencies, and space agencies to think about what new possibilities could be achieved in the future with views of night lights at different angles.
Key Points:
Remote sensing using the visible band at night is more complex than during the daytime, especially due to the variety of artificial lights.
Views of night lights intentionally taken from multiple angles provide several advantages over near‐nadir or circumstantial view geometries.
Night lights remote sensing would benefit from greater consideration of the role viewing geometry plays in the observed radiance.