Americas imagery and land cover data

Overview This layer is an image of nighttime lights of North America, including the Caribbean and Mexico, produced through a collaborative effort between the national atlas programs of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, in partnership with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The data were collected in 1996 and 1997 as part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) of the United States. DMSP satellites collect visible and infrared cloud imagery, as well as monitoring atmospheric, oceanographic, hydrologic, cryospheric, and near-Earth space environments. The program maintains a constellation of two sun-synchronous, near-polar orbiting satellites, with an orbital period of 101 minutes and an inclination of 99 degrees. This image was created during the periods 16–21 March 1996, 5–14 January 1997, and 3–12 February 1997, when the gain on the OLS sensor was turned down to 24 from the normal 64 decibels so that urban centers did not saturate the signal.  This is a revised version made in May 2002 map layer, with a corrected shoreline for Greenland. Geographic Coverage The coverage spans the North American continent, including Canada, Mexico, and the United States, as well as the Caribbean. Data Sources and Licensing Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). The data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing redistribution and adaptation, including for commercial purposes, with appropriate attribution. Update frequency: As needed Limitations of use: None. Acknowledgment of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and/or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) would be appreciated in products derived from these data. Vintage: 1996–1997 Applications (Intended Use) Visualizing urbanization and human settlement patterns across North America. Research on population distribution and land use as inferred from artificial lighting. Basemap and reference layer for continental-scale environmental analysis. Integration with other thematic layers in the North American Environmental Atlas for comprehensive continental analysis. Files Download

Date of Images: Post-Event: May 3, 2022-May 12, 2022 (Daily) Pre-Event: April 2022 (Composite) Summary: These Black Marble Day-Night Band (BRDF-Corrected) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images are corrected for atmospheric, terrain, lunar BRDF, and straylight effects, and directly measures light intensity on the ground in units of nanowatts/(steradian centimeter squared). The images are scaled from 0 - 30. The baseline image is from September 2025, generated from all daily atmospheric and lunar-corrected data from that month. There is a layer to display where clouds are present. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery. Suggested Use: NASA's Black Marble Nighttime Light product suite is a state-of-the-art daily global collection of standard products for monitoring nighttime lights (NTL). Utilizing the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) aboard the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The image is in inferno color scale. Yellow represents presence of more light; dark blue less lights. Observations may be obscured by total or partial cloud cover. Other factors such as snow reflectance, moon phase, wildfires, and wildfire smoke may distort light radiance and require further analysis when assessing power outages. Satellite/Sensor: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 Resolution: 15 arc-second (~500 meters) Credits: NASA Black Marble Science team Please cite the following two references when using this data: Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883. Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43. Point of Contact: Ranjay Shrestha NASA Goddard Space Flight Center E-mail: ranjay.m.shrestha@nasa.gov Additional Links: NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6). Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143. Service URL: See REST Endpoint on the right. WMS Endpoint: https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/services/DISASTERS_EX2603_202205_FLOOD_MN/ex2603_blackmarble_brdf_cloud/ImageServer/WMSServer

Date of Images: Post-Event: May 3, 2022-May 12, 2022 (Daily) Pre-Event: April 2022 (Composite) Summary: These Black Marble Day-Night Band (BRDF-Corrected) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images are corrected for atmospheric, terrain, lunar BRDF, and straylight effects, and directly measures light intensity on the ground in units of nanowatts/(steradian centimeter squared). The images are scaled from 0 - 30. The baseline image is from September 2025, generated from all daily atmospheric and lunar-corrected data from that month. There is a layer to display where clouds are present. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery. Suggested Use: NASA's Black Marble Nighttime Light product suite is a state-of-the-art daily global collection of standard products for monitoring nighttime lights (NTL). Utilizing the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) aboard the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The image is in inferno color scale. Yellow represents presence of more light; dark blue less lights. Observations may be obscured by total or partial cloud cover. Other factors such as snow reflectance, moon phase, wildfires, and wildfire smoke may distort light radiance and require further analysis when assessing power outages. Satellite/Sensor: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 Resolution: 15 arc-second (~500 meters) Credits: NASA Black Marble Science team Please cite the following two references when using this data: Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883. Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43. Point of Contact: Ranjay Shrestha NASA Goddard Space Flight Center E-mail: ranjay.m.shrestha@nasa.gov Additional Links: NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6). Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143. Service URL: See REST Endpoint on the right. WMS Endpoint: https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/services/DISASTERS_EX2603_202205_FLOOD_MN/ex2603_blackmarble_brdf/ImageServer/WMSServer

**UNOSAT code: TC20240702JAM, GDACS ID: 1001067** This map illustrates satellite-detected water extent in Kingston, Saint Catherine and Saint Andrew Parishes as observed from a TerraSAR-X image acquired at 06:03 local time. Within the analysed area of about 1,450 km², a limited extent of 5 km² of lands appear to be affected with flood waters. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT). Important note: Flood analysis from radar images may underestimate the presence of standing waters in built-up areas and densely vegetated areas due to backscattering properties of the radar signal.

**UNOSAT code: TC20240702JAM, GDACS ID: 1001067** This map illustrates satellite-detected water extent in Saint Elizabeth Parish as observed from a Sentinel-2 image acquired at 10:48 local time. Within the analysed area of about 1,200 km², a limited extent of 13 km² of lands appear to be affected with flood waters. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).

Date of Images: Post-Event: May 3, 2022-May 12, 2022 (Daily) Pre-Event: April 2022 (Composite) Summary: These Black Marble Day-Night Band (BRDF-Corrected) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images are corrected for atmospheric, terrain, lunar BRDF, and straylight effects, and directly measures light intensity on the ground in units of nanowatts/(steradian centimeter squared). The images are scaled from 0 - 30. The baseline image is from September 2025, generated from all daily atmospheric and lunar-corrected data from that month. There is a layer to display where clouds are present. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery. Suggested Use: NASA's Black Marble Nighttime Light product suite is a state-of-the-art daily global collection of standard products for monitoring nighttime lights (NTL). Utilizing the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) aboard the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The image is in inferno color scale. Yellow represents presence of more light; dark blue less lights. Observations may be obscured by total or partial cloud cover. Other factors such as snow reflectance, moon phase, wildfires, and wildfire smoke may distort light radiance and require further analysis when assessing power outages. Satellite/Sensor: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 Resolution: 500 meters Credits: NASA Black Marble Science team Please cite the following two references when using this data: Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883. Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43. Point of Contact: Ranjay Shrestha NASA Goddard Space Flight Center E-mail: ranjay.m.shrestha@nasa.gov Additional Links: NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6). Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143. Service URL: See REST Endpoint on the right. WMS Endpoint: https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/services/DISASTERS_202510_HURRICANE_MELISSA/BlackMarble_BRDF/ImageServer/WMSServer

Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) mission is a portable, airborne imaging system that aims to simultaneously map the composition, structure, and function of terrestrial ecosystems. G-LiHT primarily focuses on a broad diversity of forest communities and ecoregions in North America, mapping aerial swaths over the Conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The purpose of G-LiHT’s Hyperspectral Ancillary data product (GLHYANC) is to provide information related to aircraft attitude and altitude, view and solar angles, and other ancillary reflectance and radiance data. GLHYANC data are processed as a zipped raster data product (GeoTIFF) with associated header file (.hdr) at 1 meter spatial resolution over locally defined areas. Some data files may be in ENVI format.

Date of Images: Post-Event: May 3, 2022-May 12, 2022 (Daily) Pre-Event: April 2022 (Composite) Summary: These Black Marble Day-Night Band (BRDF-Corrected) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images are corrected for atmospheric, terrain, lunar BRDF, and straylight effects, and directly measures light intensity on the ground in units of nanowatts/(steradian centimeter squared). The images are scaled from 0 - 30. The baseline image is from September 2025, generated from all daily atmospheric and lunar-corrected data from that month. There is a layer to display where clouds are present. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery. Suggested Use: NASA's Black Marble Nighttime Light product suite is a state-of-the-art daily global collection of standard products for monitoring nighttime lights (NTL). Utilizing the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) aboard the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The image is in inferno color scale. Yellow represents presence of more light; dark blue less lights. Observations may be obscured by total or partial cloud cover. Other factors such as snow reflectance, moon phase, wildfires, and wildfire smoke may distort light radiance and require further analysis when assessing power outages. Satellite/Sensor: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 Resolution: 500 meters Credits: NASA Black Marble Science team Please cite the following two references when using this data: Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883. Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43. Point of Contact: Ranjay Shrestha NASA Goddard Space Flight Center E-mail: ranjay.m.shrestha@nasa.gov Additional Links: NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6). Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143. Service URL: See REST Endpoint on the right. WMS Endpoint: https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/services/DISASTERS_202510_HURRICANE_MELISSA/BlackMarble_BRDF/ImageServer/WMSServer

Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) mission is a portable, airborne imaging system that aims to simultaneously map the composition, structure, and function of terrestrial ecosystems. G-LiHT primarily focuses on a broad diversity of forest communities and ecoregions in North America, mapping aerial swaths over the Conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The purpose of G-LiHT’s Hyperspectral Radiance data product (GLRADS) is to provide high-resolution radiance data, ranging in wavelength from 418 to 920 nanometers across 114 spectral bands. Radiance data is computed as the ratio between observed upwelling radiance and downwelling hemispheric irradiance, then corrected for differences in cross-track illumination and Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) using an empirically derived multiplier. At a nominal flying height of 335 m above ground level (AGL), the at-sensor radiance is a close approximation of surface radiance. GLRADS data are processed as a zipped raster data product (GeoTIFF) with associated header file (.hdr) at 1 meter spatial resolution over locally defined areas. A low-resolution browse is also provided with a color map applied in PNG format.