Evaluation of the light pollution in the nature reserves of China based on NPP/VIIRS nighttime light data

ABSTRACT

Nature reserves play a key role in the conservation of habitats, species and ecosystems in China. However, the issue of light pollution within these reserves has not received well recognition. Whereas previous studies have investigated light pollution in protected areas by remote sensing, the influence of the atmospheric scattered light from neighborhoods was ignored by using only direct light emissions. This study mapped the nighttime all-sky brightness from NPP/VIIRS data to quantify light pollution over the national nature reserves in China from 2013 to 2022. Based on the remotely sensed sky brightness, the spatio-temporal variations of sky brightness were analyzed. The mean sky brightness across all nature reserves was 0.63 mcd/m² and the mean trend was 0.0189 mcd/m²/a, indicating obvious and accelerating light pollution. Furthermore, the sky brightness around the nature reserves was estimated and compared with the reserves. In general, the surrounding regions showed higher sky brightness and brightening trends, suggesting a certain but insufficient protective effect on the sky quality of nature reserves. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the light pollution conditions in the national nature reserves in China and serves as a valuable reference for future assessments of light pollution using remote sensing data.

KEYWORDS:

• Light pollution
• national nature reserve
• sky brightness
• NPP/VIIRS
• remote sensing

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Earth Observation Group (EOG) of Colorado School of Mines for providing NPP/VIIRS data, and Dr Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel of the University of Exeter for his kind help in mapping nighttime sky brightness. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 42271351 and 42171101], and the China Meteorological Administration Innovation and Development Program [grant number CXFZ2023P056].