This view of Earth at night was acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite (Suomi NPP) – a joint program by NASA and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
Suomi NPP’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) that captured the images detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, gas flares, and wildfires.
Images were acquired over nine days in April and thirteen days in October, 2012. It took 312 satellite orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of land surface.
Reblogged this on Standard Climate.