Why I like the Intermountain West / Great Basin

[MarkBC]

Because: Lack of lights --> lack of people.

This photo popped up today on "What's Hot" on Google+. Not the first time I've seen it/similar, but I thought it was worth sharing again.

Well, relative lack of lights, for the most part.

East of the Cascades and Sierras, west of the Wasatch, south of the Snake River.


Canada and Mexico look pretty good, too, by that standard...and eastern Montana.

 

[ski3pin]

Think of all the power that takes.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Mark
You sure that's not because of all the fires blocking out the lights-just kidding, yep, that why we like it here!

Smoke

 

[Overland Hadley]

Hmm....

What are the orange lights supposed to be? It is not cities or people because it shows a lot of orange along the north west side of Lake Superior, and I know that is not the case. You can see the white dots of the two major cities, Duluth and Thunder Bay.

It almost looks like they have the BWCA Wilderness colored in as orange.

Did they have a legend for the colors?

 

[MarkBC]

Did they have a legend for the colors?

That's a good question...
I couldn't find an obvious source/reference in the Google+ post, so I don't know.
It wouldn't be hard to find a different "usa at night" photo online -- one without that ambiguity.
Any volunteers?

 

[Gormley Green]

Should say why I like Canada

 

[MarkBC]

OK, here's a different one -- in unambiguous monochrome:

This one is from July 2000, according to this source.

Another way to define this dark-and-unpopulated zone is that it's bounded -- roughly -- by US 97~ US395 on the west (more-or-less), I-84 on the north/northeast and I-15 on the south/southeast. And just ignore the area of I-80 running through the middle, though that's pretty empty, too, compared to most of the USA.

 

[highz]

Here is info from the International Dark Sky Association.

Dark sky info

 

[craig333]

Orange looks to be a lower order of magnitude. I'm guessing back east the orange belt follows the smoky mountains?

 

[MarkBC]

Here is info from the International Dark Sky Association.

Dark sky info

Thanks for the link, highz...very interesting.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Here is info from the International Dark Sky Association.

Dark sky info


That map makes a lot more sense.

On the other map maybe orange is campfires, as most of the national parks are solid orange.

 

[Alley-Kat]

Orange campfires in the ocean?

Maybe it's just noise.

 

[ski3pin]

Orange campfires in the ocean?

Maybe it's just noise.


cruise ships is my bet

 

[Overland Hadley]

Orange campfires in the ocean?


Oh, thats funny, I did not even look out there.

 

[MarkBC]

There was a new usa-lights-at-night-from-space picture published just a few days ago, based on imaging from the NASA-NOAA Suomi satellite, imaging from as recently as October of this year:

Here's a link to the page describing the work: NASA-NOAA Satellite Reveals New Views of Earth at Night, which includes a very-cool movie of lights-at-night over the whole planet (our planet, Earth).

Here's a link to the full-resolution (>6000 pixels wide) version.

Here's my annotated version:


Make -- and share -- your own annotated versions -- featuring your own significant locales, if you like.

 

[highz]

I see a lot of lights in the Permian Basin east of where I live that I think are not towns, but are related to the petroleum industry. Is that also what is going on to the west-northwest of Bismarck, ND??? There's quite a light pattern there.

EDIT: I might have answered my own question

 

[MarkBC]

I see a lot of lights in the Permian Basin east of where I live that I think are not towns, but are related to the petroleum industry. Is that also what is going on to the west-northwest of Bismarck, ND??? There's quite a light pattern there.

EDIT: I might have answered my own question

View attachment 15700

Yeah, I noticed all those lights in the northern Plains and wondered about it myself.

But, of course, the cameras can only see lights -- not necessarily an indication of human population. Just an indication of lots of human activity.

 

[CraggyMan]

Nice to see that huge, roughly triangle shaped block of darkness out in the SE Oregon/NW Nevada....

 

[highz]

If you have 55 minutes to kill, here is a good documentary on light pollution:

 

[MarkBC]

If you have 55 minutes to kill, here is a good documentary on light pollution:

Thanks, highz, I'll check that out.