This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
I have an update to the North Korea by night entry I posted several days after Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011. At the time, I wrote “perhaps there is no better visualization of the isolation and oppression that the North Koreans live under”. I would like to amend that statement to reflect this updated set from NASA’s Earth Observatory (link).
We see with even more clarity the isolation of North Korea in direct contrast to the prosperity of the South. The lights literally run up to the 38th parallel and end. Full stop. Unbelievable.
The reason we can see these lights so clearly is that the image contains wavelengths through the visible spectrum up to infrared using NASA's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometry Suite (VIIRS) satellite. Filtering and post-processing allow everything from city lights, wildfires, gas flares, and yes, even fishing boats (check out the seaborne lights) to be visible.