Relationship between the surface brightness of the night sky and meteorological conditions

• Published in: Journal of quantitative spectroscopy & radiative transfer Vol. 306; p. 108621
• Main Authors: Karpińska, Dominika, Kunz, Mieczysław
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2023
• Subjects: Artificial light; Light pollution; Lorawan; Monitoring network; Sky brightness; Artificial light; Light pollution; Sky brightness; Monitoring network; Lorawan
• ISSN: 0022-4073; 1879-1352
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2023.108621

•Cloud cover has a significant influence on the brightness of the night sky.•Cloudy conditions increase the measured values.•Seasonality affects the observed brightness of the night sky.
Measurements of the surface brightness of the night sky have been carried out for many years by interdisciplinary research groups around the world. According to the observations, a significantly higher brightness of the sky, i.e. its light pollution, is observed over the centres of urbanised areas and in their immediate vicinity. Several factors contribute to the high values of the night sky brightness. The parameter that contributes to the exaggeration of the recorded values are meteorological conditions prevailing during the measurement, mainly the altitude and spatial extent of cloud cover. The relationship between the measured value of the surface brightness of the night sky and the occurrence of cloud cover has already been reported in a number of research works. In Toruń, multifaceted measurements of light pollution have been carried out since 2017, and in 2020, an automatic network monitoring the surface brightness of the night sky was established using proprietary low-cost measurement equipment, which is being systematically expanded with new monitoring stations. This paper presents the results of research on the relationship between the observed sky brightness and selected meteorological elements. Data collected at several measurement stations located in different parts of Toruń in a systematic observation series of more than one year were analysed. This allowed us to search for an answer to the question of whether the results of night sky brightness measurements are affected by local meteorological conditions and whether the measured value significantly varies depending on the distance from the city centre.