Published June 20, 2025 | Version 1.0
Dataset Restricted

Night-Time Lights VIIRS Series (2012-2024) Aggregated at NUTS-3 Level for the European Union

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Contributors

  • 1. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • 2. ROR icon Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía

Description

This data set provides an annual time series (2012-2024) of night-time radiance derived from the NOAA VIIRS-DNB sensor (product VCMCFG), aggregated over the 1 167 NUTS-3 regions of the European Union (NUTS 2021 version). Each year is represented by the median of monthly mosaics for the period August – November.
For every region the file reports:

  • mean radiance (nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹)

  • integrated radiance (W sr⁻¹)

  • mean percentage of cloud-free observations (%)

  • surface area (m²)

Inter-annual calibration offsets and a stable-lights mask have been applied to ensure comparability.

Coverage

Dimension Range
Temporal 2012 – 2024 (13 annual observations)
Spatial EU-27, NUTS-3 level — CRS EPSG:4326
Analysis resolution 15 km (re-projection and aggregation scale)
 

Data sources

Source Purpose
NOAA/VIIRS/DNB/MONTHLY_V1/VCMCFG Night-time radiance (avg_rad) and cloud cover (cf_cvg)
HYDE 3.2 – Population 2013 Population mask and reprojection
MODIS MCD43A3 Surface albedo for seasonal correction
World Atlas 2015 Natural sky brightness reference
Eurostat NUTS-3 (2021) Administrative boundaries
 

Methodology

  1. Temporal subset – VIIRS monthly mosaics from August to November, per year.

  2. Radiometric correction – additive offsets by year to normalise sensor gain

    • 0 (2012-2016) · −0.20 (2017-2019) · −0.24 (2020-2023) · −0.305 (2024)

  3. Stable-lights mask (2012-2018):

    • radiance exceeding World Atlas 2015 background

    • radiance ≥ 0.27 nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹

  4. Final threshold – pixels with radiance < 0.4 nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹ are discarded.

  5. Zonal statistics – for each NUTS-3 region:

    • viirs_rad_mean_<year> — mean radiance (nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹)

    • viirs_rad_sum_<year> — integrated radiance (W sr⁻¹) = Σ(radiance × pixel-area) × 10⁻⁵

    • viirs_cld_mean_<year> — mean cloud-free observations (%)

    • area — region surface (m²)

Variables and units

Column / prefix Unit Description
area m² Region surface area
viirs_rad_mean_* nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹ Annual mean radiance (masked pixels only)
viirs_rad_sum_* W sr⁻¹ Annual integrated radiance (see methodology)

Files

Restricted

The record is publicly accessible, but files are restricted to users with access.