New Satellite Sensor Sees Earth at Night Almost as If It Were Day

A satellite sensor that can see in the dark is revealing new information for meteorologists, firefighters, search teams and researchers worldwide

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No one likes to be “in the dark” about what is going on around them, especially in times of peril. Yet when night overtakes a continent or ocean, scientists and forecasters suddenly lose important satellite imagery in the visible-light range—information that can reveal swirling storms, the choking smoke of wildfires, massive chunks of sea ice that threaten ships, and much more.

A new sensor called the Day Night Band is beginning to fill that void. Part of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite flying on the Suomi-NPP satellite, the instrument is so sensitive that it can measure the glow of a single streetlamp, the deck light of a lone boat in the middle of a pitch-black Atlantic Ocean or a flickering gas flare in the vast North Dakota oil fields. Even on a moonless night, the sensor can discern clouds and snowfields, illuminated by the atmosphere's own faint, nocturnal glow.

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