Mosaic image of the artificial light produced by Berlin on the night of September 11, 2010 observed from an altitude of 10,000 ft

Aerial observations of light pollution can fill an important gap between ground based surveys and nighttime satellite data. Terrestrially bound surveys are labor intensive and are generally limited to a small spatial extent, and while existing satellite data cover the whole world, they are limited to coarse resolution. This paper describes the production of a high resolution (1 m) mosaic image of the city of Berlin, Germany at night. The dataset is spatially analyzed to identify themajor sources of light pollution in the city based on urban land use data. An area-independent 'brightness factor' is introduced that allows direct comparison of the light emission from differently sized land use classes, and the percentage area with values above average brightness is calculated for each class. Using this methodology, lighting associated with streets has been found to be the dominant source of zenith directed light pollution (31.6%), although other land use classes have much higher average brightness. These results are compared with other urban light pollution quantification studies. The minimum resolution required for an analysis of this type is found to be near 10 m. Future applications of high resolution datasets such as this one could include: studies of the efficacy of light pollution mitigation measures, improved light pollution simulations, economic and energy use, the relationship between artificial light and ecological parameters (e.g. circadian rhythm, fitness, mate selection, species distributions, migration barriers and seasonal behavior), or the management of nightscapes. To encourage further scientific inquiry, the mosaic data is freely available at Pangaea.

针对光污染的航空观测，可填补地面实地观测与夜间卫星遥感数据之间的重要空白。地面固定观测属于劳动密集型工作，且通常仅能覆盖有限的空间范围；现有卫星数据虽可覆盖全球，但分辨率较为粗糙。本研究详述了德国柏林市夜间高分辨率（1米）镶嵌影像的制作流程。本数据集经空间分析，并结合城市土地利用数据，识别出该市光污染的主要来源。研究引入了与面积无关的“亮度因子”，可直接对比不同规模土地利用类别的光辐射强度，并为每类用地计算出亮度高于平均值的面积占比。采用该分析方法，尽管其他土地利用类别的平均亮度更高，但街道照明被确定为指向天顶的光污染的主要来源（占比31.6%）。本研究结果与其他城市光污染量化研究进行了对比。本研究还确定，开展此类分析所需的最低分辨率约为10米。此类高分辨率数据集的后续应用可包括：光污染减缓措施的效果评估、光污染模拟模型优化、经济与能源利用研究、人工照明与生态参数（如昼夜节律、物种适合度、配偶选择、物种分布、迁徙障碍及季节行为）之间的关联研究，以及夜间景观管理。为推动后续科学研究，该镶嵌影像数据可在Pangaea平台免费获取。