SURVEY OF LIGHT POLLUTION OF ARAK CITY BY USING OF DMSP AND SUONI-NPP SATELLITE IMAGERY

Abstract. Today, the use of remote sensing techniques and satellite images of night lights has immensely assisted in investigating this kind of pollution. The objectives of this research is to survey the light pollution of the city of Arak in Iran for the years 1997 and 2009, by utilizing satellite images of DMSP night lights and for the years 2013 through 2018, by taking advantage of Soumi-NPP satellite images of night lights and exploring its connection to the city’s electricity power consumption for street lighting. The night light images of the DMSP and NPP satellites, depending on the degree of light intensity, were each, in segregation, categorized into five classes of light pollution levels, ranging from very high to very low levels. Next, light pollution maps were extracted from classified images and then the connection of the ‘high and very high’ classes of light pollution with electric power consumption for street or road lighting was surveyed in these years. Results of the study indicates that the amount of light pollution in these years was in relevance with road or street lighting, as in the years when the amount of electricity consumption for road lighting was high and its role in connection with light pollution was also in great percentages; and in years with a decrease in electricity consumption for road lighting, lower percentages were displayed.