VIIRS Nighttime Lights Visualization

Ukraine & Russia (2019 onwards)

Bias-corrected VIIRS DNB monthly radiance data

Mode

Timeline (Month by Month) Year-over-Year (Same Month)

Playback

2019-01

JANUARY 2019

Map Style:

Radiance Trends Over Time

Animated timeline - shows progression up to current time

Map Legend & Information

▼

Radiance Scale

Higher values indicate brighter nighttime lights

Data source: VIIRS DNB monthly radiance (bias-corrected) (Elvidge et al., 2021)

Research Context: The XKDR study found that Ukraine's aggregate radiance dropped 50% since 2022, while Russia's remained stable - patterns visible in this visualization.

Territorial Boundaries & Nightlights

Ukraine

Russia

Disputed Areas

Ukraine Nightlights (Blue)

Russia Nightlights (Red)

Percentage Change

+5%+ Increase

-5% to +5% Stable

-5%- Decrease

Year-over-year vs 2019 baseline

Research Insight: XKDR study identified "growth reversals in regions hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border" - watch for these patterns in the percentage changes.

Map Elements

Borders: Blue = Ukraine | Red = Russia | Red dashed = Disputed

Cities: Blue circles = Ukraine | Red circles = Russia

Districts: Dashed lines show oblast/federal subject boundaries

Percentage: Shows radiance change compared to 2019 baseline

How Percentage Changes Are Calculated

Percentage Change Calculation (vs 2019 Baseline)

Formula: % Change = ((Current Radiance - 2019 Baseline) / 2019 Baseline) × 100

Example 1: Kyiv in February 2022

Current value (Feb 2022): 1.673 nW/cm²/sr
Baseline (Feb 2019): 1.837 nW/cm²/sr
Calculation: ((1.673 - 1.837) / 1.837) × 100
Result: -8.9% (shown in red - decreased lighting)

Example 2: Kyiv in January 2021

Current value (Jan 2021): 1.834 nW/cm²/sr
Baseline (Jan 2019): 1.805 nW/cm²/sr
Calculation: ((1.834 - 1.805) / 1.805) × 100
Result: +1.6% (shown in yellow - stable/slight increase)

Interpreting the Changes

All percentage changes are calculated relative to the 2019 baseline for the same month.

% Change	Color	Interpretation
+5% or more	Green	Significant increase in lighting (growth, infrastructure expansion, power restoration)
-5% to +5%	Yellow	Minor fluctuations, potentially normal seasonal variation
-5% or less	Red	Significant decrease in lighting (power outages, infrastructure damage, economic decline)

Data Sources & Methodology

Satellite Data: VIIRS DNB monthly radiance dataset, processed using bias-correction methods from "But clouds got in my way: Bias and bias correction of VIIRS nighttime lights data" (xKDR Working Paper)

Geographic Boundaries: geoBoundaries dataset (WGS84/EPSG:4326)

Temporal Coverage: January 2019 - December 2024

Spatial Resolution: ~750m (aggregated by city/region)

Units: Radiance values in nW/cm²/sr (nanowatts per square centimeter per steradian)

About This Visualization

This interactive visualization tool uses bias-corrected VIIRS nighttime lights data to track changes in artificial lighting patterns, which correlate with economic activity, urban development, power grid status, and infrastructure health. Based on the same methodology as the XKDR working paper "Shedding light on the Russia-Ukraine War" (2025), this tool allows you to explore economic patterns and changes in real-time. According to the XKDR study, Ukraine's nighttime lights have fallen by 50% since 2022, while Russia's aggregate lights showed virtually no change - patterns you can explore in this visualization.

What you can explore:

Month-by-month and year-over-year economic activity changes
Regional variations in nighttime lighting patterns
Percentage changes relative to 2019 baseline or previous periods
City-level radiance trends and their correlation with economic conditions

Visual elements:

Color of circles: Represents radiance intensity (yellow = low, orange = medium, red = high)
Size of circles: Proportional to radiance magnitude
Circle outline: Blue = Ukraine cities, Red = Russia cities
Percentage labels: Show change relative to baseline (mode-dependent)

Data source: Hande, R., Patnaik, A., Shah, A., & Thomas, S. (2025). "Shedding light on the Russia-Ukraine War." XKDR Working Paper Series

Data Sources & Citations

VIIRS Nighttime Lights Data: Elvidge, C. D., Zhizhin, M., Ghosh, T., Hsu, F. C., & Taneja, J. (2021). "But clouds got in my way: Bias and bias correction of VIIRS nighttime lights data." Remote Sensing of Environment, 258, 112165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112165
XKDR Working Paper: Hande, R., Patnaik, A., Shah, A., & Thomas, S. (2025). "Shedding light on the Russia-Ukraine War." XKDR Working Paper Series. https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/2025Handeetal_russiaNtl.pdf