Artificial lights brighten the Arctic, fueling climate concerns

According to the latest observations from NASA's Earth Observatory, the icy Arctic is rapidly brightening during the polar night due to increased industrial activity. Using satellite data, an international team of NASA researchers discovered that between 1992 and 2013, the Arctic was becoming brighter by 5% each year, resulting in approximately 606,000 square kilometres shifting from dark to illuminated.

- Only 15% of the lit-up areas of the Arctic during the study period contained human settlements like homes or apartment buildings, which tells us that most of the artificial light is due to industrial activities rather than urban or residential development - commented Zhuosen Wang, a member of the research team and a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, as quoted by Earth Observatory NASA. The team of experts is working on correcting for natural light sources to update the analysis of artificial light in the Arctic.

The Arctic's industry is predominantly mining. According to Earth Observatory data, oilording to Earth Observatory data, oil and gas extraction areas in northern Russia, the U.S. state of Alaska, and the European portion of the Arctic emitted the mo, while the Canadian Arctic largely remained dark. The largest increases in the illuminated area were recorded in the Russian part of the Arctic (439,000 square kilometres) during the study period, particularly in Khanty-Mansiysk (114,000 square kilometres) and Yamalo-Nenets (108,000 square kilometres).

The entire Khanty-Mansiysk region in Russia is a vast, marshy area in the western Siberian Lowlands. This region is home to Samotlor, one of the largest oil fields in the world, which recorded the greatest expansion of nighttime lights during the study period. Although Khanty-Mansiysk experienced significant human activity expansion, there were also some reductions in the illuminated area. Researchers stated that the mining industry undergoes cycles of expansion and recession, which is why we observe a reduction in artificial lighting in certain areas dependent on oil, gas, or mining without significant human settlement and economic diversification.

In 2013, the total illuminated area in oil and gas extraction regions in the Russian Arctic — including Khanty-Mansiysk, Yamalo-Nenets, and Nenets regions — was 339,000 square kilometres, almost equivalent to Germany's size. The total illuminated area of the European Arctic was 158,000 square kilometres, while the North American Arctic was 49,000 square kilometres. The research team also identified mines used for extracting other minerals, such as the Red Dog mine in remote Alaska, the world's second-largest source of zinc in 2018.