Editing Light pollution (section)

== Global impact ==
[[File:World light pollution.jpg|thumb|upright=2.25|World map of light pollution. False colors show intensities of [[skyglow]] from artificial light sources around the world.]]
[[File:YOUTUBE HQ-12573 blackmarble 2017 youtube hq.webm|thumb|NASA video of a nighttime view of Earth, dubbed the Black Marble<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA's Black Marble |url=https://blackmarble.gsfc.nasa.gov/ |website=blackmarble.gsfc.nasa.gov |access-date=20 September 2024}}</ref>]]
=== Europe ===
Inspection of the area surrounding Madrid reveals that the effects of light pollution caused by a single large conglomeration can be felt up to {{convert|100|km|0|abbr=on}} away from the center.<ref name="NWA" />

Global effects of light pollution are also made obvious. Research in the late 1990s showed that the entire area consisting of southern England, Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, and northern France have a sky brightness of at least two to four times normal.<ref name="NWA" /> The only places in continental Europe where the sky can attain its natural darkness are in northern Scandinavia and in islands far from the continent.{{citation needed|reason=The image shows large dark areas in the eastern Kola peninsula and Nenetsia. |date=November 2021}} The growth of light pollution on the green band has been 11% from 2012–2013 to 2014–2020, and 24% on the blue band.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sánchez de Miguel |first1=Alejandro |last2=Bennie |first2=Jonathan |last3=Rosenfeld |first3=Emma |last4=Dzurjak |first4=Simon |last5=Gaston |first5=Kevin J. |date=2022-09-16 |title=Environmental risks from artificial nighttime lighting widespread and increasing across Europe |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=8 |issue=37 |pages=eabl6891 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abl6891 |pmid=36103525 |pmc=9473566 |bibcode=2022SciA....8L6891S |issn=2375-2548}}</ref>

=== North America ===
In North America the situation is comparable. There is a significant problem with light pollution ranging from the Canadian Maritime Provinces to the American Southwest.<ref name="NWA" /> The [[International Dark-Sky Association]] works to designate areas that have high-quality night skies. These areas are supported by communities and organizations that are dedicated to reducing light pollution (e.g. [[Dark-sky preserve]]). The [[National Park Service]] [[Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division]] has measured night sky quality in national park units across the U.S. Sky quality in the U.S. ranges from pristine ([[Capitol Reef National Park]] and [[Big Bend National Park]]) to severely degraded ([[Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area]] and [[Biscayne National Park]]).<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Duriscoe D. |author2=Luginbuhl C. |author3=Moore C. |title= Measuring Night Sky Brightness with a Wide-Field CCD Camera|doi=10.1086/512069|arxiv=astro-ph/0702721|bibcode=2007PASP..119..192D|volume=119|issue=852 |journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific|pages=192–213|year=2007 |s2cid=53331822 }}</ref> The National Park Service Night Sky Program monitoring database is available online (2015).<ref>[http://www.nature.nps.gov/night/skymap.cfm Night Sky Monitoring Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160713124149/http://www.nature.nps.gov/night/skymap.cfm |date=2016-07-13 }}. nature.nps.gov</ref>

=== East Asia ===
[[Light pollution in Hong Kong]] was declared the 'worst on the planet' in March 2013.<ref>[http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1194996/light-pollution-hong-kong-worst-planet South China Morning Post] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033924/http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1194996/light-pollution-hong-kong-worst-planet |date=2020-11-12 }}. 2013-20-3. Retrieved 2013-6-4</ref>

In June 2016, it was estimated that one third of the world's population could no longer see the Milky Way, including 80% of Americans and 60% of Europeans. [[Singapore]] was found to be the most light-polluted country in the world.<ref name="limitednight">{{Cite news|url=http://www.pressherald.com/2016/06/11/light-pollution-limiting-night-sky-views/|first=Brady|last=Dennis|date=June 11, 2016|access-date=June 12, 2016|title=Light pollution limiting night-sky views|publisher=Portland Press Herald, via Washington Post|archive-date=April 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425115725/https://www.pressherald.com/2016/06/11/light-pollution-limiting-night-sky-views/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NWA">{{Cite journal|last1=Falchi|first1=Fabio|last2=Cinzano|first2=Pierantonio|last3=Duriscoe|first3=Dan|last4=Kyba|first4=Christopher C. M.|last5=Elvidge|first5=Christopher D.|last6=Baugh|first6=Kimberly|last7=Portnov|first7=Boris A.|last8=Rybnikova|first8=Nataliya A.|last9=Furgoni|first9=Riccardo|date=2016-06-01|title=The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness|journal=Science Advances |volume=2|issue=6|pages=e1600377|doi=10.1126/sciadv.1600377|issn=2375-2548|pmid=27386582|pmc=4928945|arxiv = 1609.01041 |bibcode = 2016SciA....2E0377F }}</ref>

Over the past 21 years, China's provincial capital cities have seen a major increase in light pollution, with hotspots along the eastern coastline region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Wei |last2=He |first2=Guojin |last3=Long |first3=Tengfei |last4=Wang |first4=Chen |last5=Ni |first5=Yuan |last6=Ma |first6=Ruiqi |date=2017-02-06 |title=Assessing Light Pollution in China Based on Nighttime Light Imagery |journal=Remote Sensing |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=135 |doi=10.3390/rs9020135 |bibcode=2017RemS....9..135J |issn=2072-4292|doi-access=free }}</ref>