Nighttime Lights of North America

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Geophysical Data Center

Publication_Date: 200301

Title: Nighttime Lights of North America

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: National Atlas of the United States

Online_Linkage: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>

Description:

Abstract:

This map layer is an image of nighttime lights for North America, including the Caribbean and most of Mexico. The data were collected in 1996 and 1997 as part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The data available through the National Atlas of the United States are in GeoTIFF format. This is a revised version of the May 2002 map layer, with a corrected shoreline for Greenland.

Purpose:

These data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national level, and for large regional areas. The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:2,000,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by the National Atlas of the United States in the use of these data.

Supplemental_Information:

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites collect visible and infrared cloud imagery as well as monitoring the atmospheric, oceanographic, hydrologic, cryospheric and near-Earth space environments. The DMSP program maintains a constellation of two, sun-synchronous, near-polar orbiting satellites. The orbital period is 101 minutes and inclination is 99 degrees. The atmospheric and oceanographic sensors record radiances at visible, infrared and microwave wavelengths. The solar-geophysical sensors measure ionospheric plasma fluxes, densities, temperatures and velocities.

The OLS (Operational Linescan System) visible band (0.4-1.1 micrometers) is used to locate recurring nighttime lights. The thermal OLS band (10.5-12.5 micrometers) is used to screen for cloud free orbits. During the periods 16-21 March, 1996, 5-14 January, 1997, and 3-12 February, 1997, the gain on the OLS sensor was turned down to 24 from the normal 64 decibels. The result was an image in which urban centers do not saturate the signal.

DMSP visible and infrared imagery of clouds covers a 3,000 km swath, thus each satellite provides global coverage of both daytime and nighttime conditions each day. The field view of the microwave imagers and sounders is only 1,500 km, thus approximately 3 days data are required for one instrument to provide global coverage at equatorial latitudes. The solar-geophysical instruments make in-situ measurements of ionospheric parameters, some of which vary very rapidly.

This program is a joint effort with extensive collaboration between the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Office, Air Force Global

Weather Central, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development

Program, the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Further information on the Defense Meterological Satellite Program can be found at <http://dmsp.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp.html>.

The associated world file is included as part of the GeoTIFF. The contents of the world file are:

769.4780
0.000000
0.000000
-769.4780
-6086744.0000
4485901.0000

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19960316

Ending_Date: 19970212

Currentness_Reference: Ground condition

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: As needed

Spatial_Domain:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: 166.00

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -4.00

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 83.00

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 15.00

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category

Theme_Keyword: Imagery/Base Maps/Earth Cover

Theme_Keyword: Society

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: DMSP

Theme_Keyword: Global Change

Theme_Keyword: Meteorological Satellites

Theme_Keyword: Satellite Imagery

Theme_Keyword: Nighttime Lights

Theme_Keyword: Population

Theme_Keyword: Visible

Theme_Keyword: City Lights

Theme_Keyword: Radiance

Theme_Keyword: Night lights

Theme_Keyword: Urban lights

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: North America

Place_Keyword: USA

Place_Keyword: Alabama

Place_Keyword: Alaska

Place_Keyword: Arizona

Place_Keyword: Arkansas

Place_Keyword: California

Place_Keyword: Colorado

Place_Keyword: Connecticut

Place_Keyword: Delaware

Place_Keyword: District of Columbia

Place_Keyword: Florida

Place_Keyword: Georgia

Place_Keyword: Hawaii

Place_Keyword: Idaho

Place_Keyword: Illinois

Place_Keyword: Indiana

Place_Keyword: Iowa

Place_Keyword: Kansas

Place_Keyword: Kentucky

Place_Keyword: Louisiana

Place_Keyword: Maine

Place_Keyword: Maryland

Place_Keyword: Massachusetts

Place_Keyword: Michigan

Place_Keyword: Minnesota

Place_Keyword: Mississippi

Place_Keyword: Missouri

Place_Keyword: Montana

Place_Keyword: Nebraska

Place_Keyword: Nevada

Place_Keyword: New Hampshire

Place_Keyword: New Jersey

Place_Keyword: New Mexico

Place_Keyword: New York

Place_Keyword: North Carolina

Place_Keyword: North Dakota

Place_Keyword: Ohio

Place_Keyword: Oklahoma

Place_Keyword: Oregon

Place_Keyword: Pennsylvania

Place_Keyword: Rhode Island

Place_Keyword: South Carolina

Place_Keyword: South Dakota

Place_Keyword: Tennessee

Place_Keyword: Texas

Place_Keyword: Utah

Place_Keyword: Vermont

Place_Keyword: Virginia

Place_Keyword: Washington

Place_Keyword: West Virginia

Place_Keyword: Wisconsin

Place_Keyword: Wyoming

Place_Keyword: Puerto Rico

Place_Keyword: Virgin Islands

Place_Keyword: Greenland

Place_Keyword: Iceland

Place_Keyword: United States

Place_Keyword: Mexico

Place_Keyword: Caribbean

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints:

None. Acknowledgment of the National Geophysical Data Center and (or) the National Atlas of the United States of America would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: NOAA/NESDIS, National Geophysical Data Center

Contact_Person: Dr. Christopher D. Elvidge

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and physical address

Address: E/GC2, 325 Broadway

City: Boulder

State_or_Province: CO

Postal_Code: 80305

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 303-497-6121

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 303-497-6513

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: Chris.Elvidge@noaa.gov

Data_Quality_Information:

Logical_Consistency_Report:

No checks for logical consistency were performed on this map layer.

Completeness_Report:

This map layer contains nighttime lights information for all of North America excluding southern Mexico, and for the Caribbean, parts of Russia, and Greenland.

Lineage:

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Geophysical Data Center

Publication_Date: 1997

Title: DMSP - OLS data

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Boulder, CO

Publisher: NOAA/NESDIS, National Geophysical Data Center

Type_of_Source_Media: magnetic tape

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19960316

Ending_Date: 19970212

Source_Currentness_Reference: Ground condition

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: DMSPOLS

Source_Contribution: Nighttime lights information

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Atlas of the United States

Publication_Date: 1999

Title: Shoreline file in Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: National Atlas of the United States

Type_of_Source_Media: internal file

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 1972

Ending_Date: 1999

Source_Currentness_Reference: Ground condition

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: shorelp020l

Source_Contribution: Shoreline mask for area of coverage.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Geophysical Data Center

Publication_Date: 200105

Title: Nighttime Lights of North America

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: National Atlas of the United States

Type_of_Source_Media: online

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19960316

Ending_Date: 19970212

Source_Currentness_Reference: Ground condition

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE2001

Source_Contribution: Nighttime Lights TIFF image.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Atlas of the United States

Publication_Date: 200205

Title: North America Land/Water Mask

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: National Atlas of the United States

Type_of_Source_Media: ftp site

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 200205

Source_Currentness_Reference: Publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: GRDMSKI

Source_Contribution: Shoreline information

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Geophysical Data Center

Publication_Date: 200205

Title: Nighttime Lights of North America

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, VA

Publisher: National Atlas of the United States

Type_of_Source_Media: online

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19960316

Ending_Date: 19970212

Source_Currentness_Reference: Ground condition

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE200205

Source_Contribution: Nighttime Lights TIFF image.

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: National Imagery and Mapping Agency

Publication_Date: 1990

Title: World Vector Shoreline

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Bethesda, MD

Publisher: National Imagery and Mapping Agency

Online_Linkage: <http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/shorelines/shorelines.html>

Type_of_Source_Media: Online

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 1990

Source_Currentness_Reference: Publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: WVS

Source_Contribution: Shoreline information.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

During the periods from 16-21 March, 1996, 5-14 January, 1997, and 3- 12 February, 1997, the gain on the OLS sensor was turned down to 24 from the normal 64 decibels. The result was an image in which urban centers do not saturate the signal. The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) received the complete DMSP data stream in the same form in which it was received at Air Force Weather Agency. NGDC processed the map layer to restore data lost during transmission and compute satellite positions.

In addition, very near infrared (VNIR) emission sources and clouds for each of the suborbits were detected and geolocated, and the data were composited. Image time series analysis was used to distinguish lights produced by cities, towns, and industrial facilities from sensor noise and ephemeral lights arising from fires and lightning. The time series approach was required to ensure that each land area was covered with sufficient cloud free observations to determine the presence or absence of VNIR emission sources.

The worldwide nighttime lights data file (DMSPOLS) was received in TIFF format. The file was converted to JPEG format and resampled in Adobe Photoshop to reduce the file size. The file was then converted to ESRI GRID format, the image was truncated using the shoreline mask (shorelp020l), and the value of the water areas was set to 255. The file was converted back to TIFF format.

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: DMSPOLS

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: shorelp020l

Process_Date: 1999

Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE2001

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Coastlines in Canada, Mexico, Russia, and in the Caribbean were corrected. A GeoTIFF Revision 1.0 header was added and PackBits compression was applied to the image.

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE2001

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: GRDMSKI

Process_Date: 200205

Source_Produced_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE200205

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

The coastline of Greenland was replaced by a new, corrected version derived from World Vector Shoreline (WVS). This image contains no thematic data for Greenland; the new data were inserted only to maintain consistency with other National Atlas data layers.

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: LIGHTS_IMAGE200205

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: WVS

Process_Date: 200212

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Raster

Raster_Object_Information:

Raster_Object_Type: Grid Cell

Row_Count: 9448

Column_Count: 13471

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Planar:

Map_Projection:

Map_Projection_Name: Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area

Lambert_Azimuthal_Equal_Area:

Longitude_of_Projection_Center: -100.00

Latitude_of_Projection_Center: 45.00

False_Easting: 0.0

False_Northing: 0.0

Planar_Coordinate_Information:

Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: Row and column

Coordinate_Representation:

Abscissa_Resolution: 769.478

Ordinate_Resolution: 769.478

Planar_Distance_Units: Meters

Geodetic_Model:

Horizontal_Datum_Name: None

Ellipsoid_Name: Sphere

Semi-major_Axis: 6370997.0

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 1.0

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Detailed_Description:

Entity_Type:

Entity_Type_Label: Nighttime lights grid cell

Entity_Type_Definition: Any of the data elements in the nighttime lights file.

Entity_Type_Definition_Source: National Atlas of the United States

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: Nighttime lights grid cell value

Attribute_Definition:

The value is a measure of the intensity of nighttime lights in the grid cell. Light intensity is described by a range of values, where smaller values represent higher intensity, and larger values represent lower intensity.

Attribute_Definition_Source: National Atlas of the United States

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Range_Domain:

Range_Domain_Minimum: 0

Range_Domain_Maximum: 72

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Enumerated_Domain:

Enumerated_Domain_Value: 255

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: Water

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:

National Atlas of the United States

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: Earth Science Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing address

Address: 507 National Center

City: Reston

State_or_Province: VA

Postal_Code: 20192

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747)

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 703-648-5920

Contact_Instructions:

In addition to the address above there are other ESIC offices throughout the country. A full list of these offices is at <http://geography.usgs.gov/esic/esic_index.html>.

Distribution_Liability:

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Geological Survey regarding the utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. No responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data.

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: TIFF

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>

Fees:

There is no charge for the map layer.

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20050926

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Peg Rawson

Contact_Organization: National Atlas of the United States

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing address

Address: 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

Address: MS-561

City: Reston

State_or_Province: VA

Postal_Code: 20192

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 703-648-4183

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: atlasmail@usgs.gov

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998

Metadata_Time_Convention: Universal time

Metadata_Security_Information:

Metadata_Security_Classification_System: None

Metadata_Security_Classification: Unclassified

Metadata_Security_Handling_Description: None