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Hoosier Geologic | Atmospheric Record
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
Chair: Jim Brophy
Co-Editors: Arndt Schimmelmann & Jim Brophy
Graphic Design: Ruth Droppo
http://earth.indiana.edu/ College of Arts + Sciences
Executive Dean: Larry D. Singell
Executive Director of Advancement: Travis Paulin
Director of Alumni Relations: Vanessa Cloe
http://college.indiana.edu/ Cover: This image of North and South America at night is a compos-
ite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April
and October 2012. The new data were mapped over existing Blue
Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.

The nighttime view was made possible by the new satellite’s “day-
night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite.

VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-in-
frared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as
city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. In
this case, auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed to
emphasize the city lights.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi
NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA Nation-
al Geophysical Data Center). Suomi NPP is the result of a partner-
ship between NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense. Caption
by Mike Carlowicz.

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