Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Night Lights Data (2012-2021)

About Dataset

The VIIRS Night Lights Dataset (2012-2021) provides high-resolution satellite-derived night light intensity measurements, offering a more accurate and calibrated dataset compared to DMSP-OLS (1992-2013). VIIRS data is derived from monthly cloud-free radiance grids, processed into an annual time series to ensure consistency in economic and infrastructure monitoring. This dataset features total, mean, and maximum night light values, allowing users to analyze spatial patterns in electrification, urban growth, and economic activity. Unlike DMSP-OLS, VIIRS eliminates background noise, such as biomass burning and auroral contamination, making it more reliable for fine-scale economic and development analysis. The dataset includes masked and unmasked versions, with masked data filtering out background disturbances for cleaner analysis. Geographic aggregation is available at Shrid, District, Subdistrict, and Assembly Constituency levels (AC07 & AC08), making it useful for localized policy analysis and economic forecasting. This dataset is widely applied in regional development studies, poverty estimation, disaster response analysis, and sustainable development research. It is recommended for modern applications where high accuracy and spatial resolution are required.