Earth Observation Group is the Pioneer in Global Nighttime Lights Product Generation

The Payne Institute Earth Observation Group (EOG) pioneered the development of monthly and annual global nighttime light products from low light imaging data collected by meteorological satellite sensors. Initially with data from the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) and later with day / night band (DNB) data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). EOG’s approach features a cascading series of filtration steps to exclude sunlit, moonlit, stray light and cloudy pixels. The annual sets are then filtered to remove outliers (biomass burning, High Energy Particle (HEP) detections, some aurora) and finally the background is zeroed out. What remains are primarily surface lighting features. February 10, 2022.