Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities

Abstract Light pollution is a novel environmental problem whose extent and severity are rapidly increasing. Among other concerns, it threatens global biodiversity, nocturnal animal migration, and the integrity of the ground-based astronomy research enterprise. The most familiar manifestation of ligh...

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Autores principales:	Miroslav Kocifaj, John C. Barentine
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b007147270f74e3eb99ead919c5303c9
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:b007147270f74e3eb99ead919c5303c9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b007147270f74e3eb99ead919c5303c92021-12-02T15:33:01ZAir pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities10.1038/s41598-021-94241-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/b007147270f74e3eb99ead919c5303c92021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94241-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Light pollution is a novel environmental problem whose extent and severity are rapidly increasing. Among other concerns, it threatens global biodiversity, nocturnal animal migration, and the integrity of the ground-based astronomy research enterprise. The most familiar manifestation of light pollution is skyglow, the result of the interplay of outdoor artificial light at night (ALAN) and atmospheric scattering that obscures views of naturally dark night skies. Interventions to reduce night sky brightness (NSB) involving the adoption of modern lighting technologies are expected to yield the greatest positive environmental consequences, but other aspects of the problem have not been fully explored as bases for public policies aimed at reducing light pollution. Here we show that reducing air pollution, specifically aerosols, decreases NSB by tens of percent at relatively small distances from light sources. Cleaner city air lowers aerosol optical depth and darkens night skies, particularly in directions toward light sources, due to relatively short path lengths traversed by photons from source to observer. A field experiment demonstrating the expected changes when transitioning from conditions of elevated turbidity to cleaner air validated our hypothesis. Our results suggest new policy actions to augment and enhance existing light pollution reduction techniques targeting lighting technology and design.Miroslav KocifajJohn C. BarentineNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Miroslav Kocifaj John C. Barentine Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
description	Abstract Light pollution is a novel environmental problem whose extent and severity are rapidly increasing. Among other concerns, it threatens global biodiversity, nocturnal animal migration, and the integrity of the ground-based astronomy research enterprise. The most familiar manifestation of light pollution is skyglow, the result of the interplay of outdoor artificial light at night (ALAN) and atmospheric scattering that obscures views of naturally dark night skies. Interventions to reduce night sky brightness (NSB) involving the adoption of modern lighting technologies are expected to yield the greatest positive environmental consequences, but other aspects of the problem have not been fully explored as bases for public policies aimed at reducing light pollution. Here we show that reducing air pollution, specifically aerosols, decreases NSB by tens of percent at relatively small distances from light sources. Cleaner city air lowers aerosol optical depth and darkens night skies, particularly in directions toward light sources, due to relatively short path lengths traversed by photons from source to observer. A field experiment demonstrating the expected changes when transitioning from conditions of elevated turbidity to cleaner air validated our hypothesis. Our results suggest new policy actions to augment and enhance existing light pollution reduction techniques targeting lighting technology and design.
format	article
author	Miroslav Kocifaj John C. Barentine
author_facet	Miroslav Kocifaj John C. Barentine
author_sort	Miroslav Kocifaj
title	Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
title_short	Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
title_full	Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
title_fullStr	Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
title_full_unstemmed	Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
title_sort	air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b007147270f74e3eb99ead919c5303c9
work_keys_str_mv	AT miroslavkocifaj airpollutionmitigationcanreducethebrightnessofthenightskyinandnearcities AT johncbarentine airpollutionmitigationcanreducethebrightnessofthenightskyinandnearcities
_version_	1718387162462814208

Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities

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