TY - JOUR A1 - Arroyo, Hector Linares A1 - Abascal, Angela A1 - Degen, Tobias A1 - Aubé, Martin A1 - Espey, Brian R. A1 - Gyuk, Geza A1 - Hölker, Franz A1 - Jechow, Andreas A1 - Kuffer, Monika A1 - Sánchez de Miguel, Alejandro A1 - Simoneau, Alexandre A1 - Walczak, Ken A1 - Kyba, Christopher C. M. T1 - Monitoring, trends and impacts of light pollution JF - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment N2 - 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. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00555-9 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer Nature ER -