A Consistent and Corrected Nighttime Light dataset (CCNL 1992-2013) from DMSP-OLS data

DMSP-OLS provides the longest observations of NTL information, from 1992 to 2013, an unparalleled dataset for studying historical artificial lights. Version 4 of the DMSP-OLS Nighttime Lights Time Series is widely used ( Image and data processing by NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. DMSP data collected by US Air Force Weather Agency ). However, it suffers from three main problems: inter-annual inconsistency, saturation, and blooming effect.

We used a  series of methods to mitigate the impact and improve data quality. After processing, we get consistent and corrected nighttime light dataset (CCNL).

The version 1 products span the globe from 75N latitude to 65S. The products are produced in 30 arc resolution and are made available in GeoTIFF format. Pixel Unit: 'DN'(Digital Number).

Each GeoTIFF filename has 4 filename fields that are separated by an underscore "_". A filename extension follows these fields. The fields are described below using this example filename:

CCNL_DMSP_1992_V1

Field 1: CCNL(Consistent and Corrected Nighttime Light dataset)

Field 2: Platform "DMSP"

Field 3: Year “1992”

Field 4: version “V1”