ArticleScientific reports2019
Using all-sky differential photometry to investigate how nocturnal clouds darken the night sky in rural areas.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analyzing night illumination in dependency of cloud coverage and altitude.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- An all-sky light pollution model for global-scale applications that embraces a full range of cloud distributions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Let there be Skyglow-light pollution from a large outdoor music festival (Lollapalooza Berlin 2016).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Linking solar minimum, space weather, and night sky brightness.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Design and implementation of an illumination system to mimic skyglow at ecosystem level in a large-scale lake enclosure facility.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Influence of moon and clouds on night illumination in two different spectral ranges.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Light Pollution Monitoring and Sky Colours.Journal of imaging · 2020Article
- The Colour of the Night Sky.Journal of imaging · 2020Article
- Usage of Vertical Fisheye-Images to Quantify Urban Light Pollution on Small Scales and the Impact of LED Conversion.Journal of imaging · 2019Article
- Snowglow-The Amplification of Skyglow by Snow and Clouds Can Exceed Full Moon Illuminance in Suburban Areas.Journal of imaging · 2019Article
- Methods for Assessment and Monitoring of Light Pollution around Ecologically Sensitive Sites.Journal of imaging · 2019Article
- Evaluating Human Photoreceptoral Inputs from Night-Time Lights Using RGB Imaging Photometry.Journal of imaging · 2019Article
- Beyond All-Sky: Assessing Ecological Light Pollution Using Multi-Spectral Full-Sphere Fisheye Lens Imaging.Journal of imaging · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Artificial light at night has affected most of the natural nocturnal landscapes worldwide and the subsequent light pollution has diverse effects on flora, fauna and human well-being. To evaluate the environmental impacts of light pollution, it is crucial to understand both the natural and artificial components of light at night under all weather conditions. The night sky brightness for clear skies is relatively well understood and a reference point for a lower limit is defined. However, no such reference point exists for cloudy skies. While some studies have examined the brightening of the night sky by clouds in urban areas, the published data on the (natural) darkening by clouds is very sparse. Knowledge of reference points for the illumination of natural nocturnal environments however, is essential for experimental design and ecological modeling to assess the impacts of light pollution. Here we use differential all-sky photometry with a commercial digital camera to investigate how clouds darken sky brightness at two rural sites. The spatially resolved data enables us to identify and study the nearly unpolluted parts of the sky and to set an upper limit on ground illumination for overcast nights at sites without light pollution.
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