Blackout in Puerto Rico seen by VIIRS satellite

By Tamara Sparks

The island-wide power outage caused by a fire at a power plant in Puerto Rico is visible in satellite imagery from the VIIRS day night band. Widespread loss of lighting on April 7, 2022, indicated in red, is seen across the island, although there are areas with typical lighting levels, seen in yellow. Cloud cover over the island is minimal, so the decrease in lighting is not due to clouds. In contrast, nearby US and British Virgin Islands have stable lighting, except for areas with cloud cover.

April 11, 2022