@techreport{KybaArroyoDegenetal.2024, author = {Kyba, Christopher C.M. and Arroyo, Hector Linares and Degen, Tobias and Abascal, Angela and Simoneau, Alexandre and Kuffer, Monika and H{\"o}lker, Franz and Aub{\´e}, Martin and Walczak, Ken and Espey, Brian R. and de Miguel, Alejandro S{\´a}nchez and Jechow, Andreas and Gyuk, Geza}, title = {Night Watch Mission Description Document}, publisher = {GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences}, address = {Potsdam}, doi = {10.48440/gfz.b103-24052}, pages = {1 -- 156}, year = {2024}, abstract = {This is the Mission Description Document (MDD) for a future Earth observation satellite mission addressing visible band observations of nighttime lights. The mission driving science applications are for the remote sensing of electricity, energy, and ecological impacts via the observation of artificial light. The MDD covers the mission requirements justification from the high-level scientific objectives and societal benefits to measurement requirements at product level 1b, i.e. radiances at the top of the atmosphere. In providing justification for the individual requirements and their traceability to scientific objectives and societal challenges, we address Scientific Readiness Levels 1 to 3. The MDD is the outcome of the European Space Agency New Earth Observation Mission Ideas project "Night Watch". The Task Reports (TR) from the project are appended to the MDD, and are authored by the same group as the MDD itself.}, language = {en} } @article{ArroyoAbascalDegenetal.2024, author = {Arroyo, Hector Linares and Abascal, Angela and Degen, Tobias and Aub{\´e}, Martin and Espey, Brian R. and Gyuk, Geza and H{\"o}lker, Franz and Jechow, Andreas and Kuffer, Monika and S{\´a}nchez de Miguel, Alejandro and Simoneau, Alexandre and Walczak, Ken and Kyba, Christopher C. M.}, title = {Monitoring, trends and impacts of light pollution}, series = {Nature Reviews Earth \& Environment}, journal = {Nature Reviews Earth \& Environment}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, doi = {10.1038/s43017-024-00555-9}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2024}, abstract = {Light pollution has increased globally, with 80\% of the total population now living under light-polluted skies. In this Review, we elucidate the scope and importance of light pollution and discuss techniques to monitor it. In urban areas, light emissions from sources such as street lights lead to a zenith radiance 40 times larger than that of an unpolluted night sky. Non-urban areas account for over 50\% of the total night-time light observed by satellites, with contributions from sources such as transportation networks and resource extraction. Artificial light can disturb the migratory and reproductive behaviours of animals even at the low illuminances from diffuse skyglow. Additionally, lighting (indoor and outdoor) accounts for 20\% of global electricity consumption and 6\% of CO2 emissions, leading to indirect environmental impacts and a financial cost. However, existing monitoring techniques can only perform a limited number of measurements throughout the night and lack spectral and spatial resolution. Therefore, satellites with improved spectral and spatial resolution are needed to enable time series analysis of light pollution trends throughout the night.}, language = {en} }