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Monitoring Long-Term Trends in the Anthropogenic Night Sky Brightness

Author

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  • Salvador Bará

    (Departmento Física Aplicada, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia)

  • Raul C. Lima

    (Physics, School of Health of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
    CITEUC—Centre for Research on Earth and Space of the University of Coimbra, Observatório Astronómico da Universidade de Coimbra, 3030-004 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • Jaime Zamorano

    (Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos (IPARCOS), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Monitoring long-term trends in the evolution of the anthropogenic night sky brightness is a demanding task due to the high dynamic range of the artificial and natural light emissions and the high variability of the atmospheric conditions that determine the amount of light scattered in the direction of the observer. In this paper, we analyze the use of a statistical indicator, the m FWHM , to assess the night sky brightness changes over periods of time larger than one year. The m FWHM is formally defined as the average value of the recorded magnitudes contained within the full width at half-maximum region of the histogram peak corresponding to the scattering of artificial light under clear skies in the conditions of a moonless astronomical night (sun below −18°, and moon below −5°). We apply this indicator to the measurements acquired by the 14 SQM detectors of the Galician Night Sky Brightness Monitoring Network during the period 2015–2018. Overall, the available data suggest that the zenithal readings in the Sky Quality Meter (SQM) device-specific photometric band tended to increase during this period of time at an average rate of +0.09 mag SQM /arcsec 2 per year.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvador Bará & Raul C. Lima & Jaime Zamorano, 2019. "Monitoring Long-Term Trends in the Anthropogenic Night Sky Brightness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:11:p:3070-:d:235890
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gallaway, Terrel & Olsen, Reed N. & Mitchell, David M., 2010. "The economics of global light pollution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 658-665, January.
    2. Andreas Jechow, 2019. "Observing the Impact of WWF Earth Hour on Urban Light Pollution: A Case Study in Berlin 2018 Using Differential Photometry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lambros T. Doulos & Ioannis Sioutis & Aris Tsangrassoulis & Laurent Canale & Kostantinos Faidas, 2020. "Revision of Threshold Luminance Levels in Tunnels Aiming to Minimize Energy Consumption at No Cost: Methodology and Case Studies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Andreas Papalambrou & Lambros T. Doulos, 2019. "Identifying, Examining, and Planning Areas Protected from Light Pollution. The Case Study of Planning the First National Dark Sky Park in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-24, October.

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