Ecohydrology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Leibniz, Muggelseedamm 310, 12587, Berlin, Germany.
Remote Sensing, Helmholtz Center Potsdam, German Center for Geosciences GFZ, Telegraphenberg, Potsdam, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 27;7(1):6741. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06998-z.
Artificial skyglow is constantly growing on a global scale, with potential ecological consequences ranging up to affecting biodiversity. To understand these consequences, worldwide mapping of skyglow for all weather conditions is urgently required. In particular, the amplification of skyglow by clouds needs to be studied, as clouds can extend the reach of skyglow into remote areas not affected by light pollution on clear nights. Here we use commercial digital single lens reflex cameras with fisheye lenses for all-sky photometry. We track the reach of skyglow from a peri-urban into a remote area on a clear and a partly cloudy night by performing transects from the Spanish town of Balaguer towards Montsec Astronomical Park. From one single all-sky image, we extract zenith luminance, horizontal and scalar illuminance. While zenith luminance reaches near-natural levels at 5 km distance from the town on the clear night, similar levels are only reached at 27 km on the partly cloudy night. Our results show the dramatic increase of the reach of skyglow even for moderate cloud coverage at this site. The powerful and easy-to-use method promises to be widely applicable for studies of ecological light pollution on a global scale also by non-specialists in photometry.
人为夜空辉光在全球范围内不断增长，潜在的生态后果可能会影响生物多样性。为了了解这些后果，迫切需要对所有天气条件下的夜空辉光进行全球测绘。特别是，需要研究云层对夜空辉光的放大作用，因为云层可以将夜空辉光的范围延伸到晴朗夜晚不受光污染影响的偏远地区。在这里，我们使用带有鱼眼镜头的商用数码单反相机进行全天测光。我们通过从西班牙城镇巴利亚尔到蒙塞科普天文学家公园进行横断面研究，在晴朗和部分多云的夜晚，从城市郊区追踪到偏远地区的夜空辉光范围。从一张全天空图像中，我们提取出天顶亮度、水平和标量照度。虽然在晴朗的夜晚，从城镇到 5 公里的距离上天顶亮度达到接近自然的水平，但在部分多云的夜晚，只有在 27 公里处才能达到类似的水平。我们的研究结果表明，即使在这个地点有适度的云层覆盖，夜空辉光的范围也会急剧增加。这种强大且易于使用的方法有望广泛应用于全球范围内的生态光污染研究，甚至非测光专家也可以使用。
