Artificial lights brightening nights across world 人工光在点亮夜晚

人工光在点亮夜晚...



More than 80% of the world’s population lives under light-polluted skies, a study suggests.

全球80%的人生活在光污染下，一项研究表明。

Scientists explain in Science Advances how ground measurements and satellite data were used to create an atlas of a world brightened by artificial lights.

《科学进展》杂志的科学家解释说，通过地面测量和卫星数据绘制出的了人工光下世界亮度地图。

It reveals that the population of Singapore, Kuwait and Qatar experience the brightest night skies.

揭示出新加坡、科威特和卡塔尔处于最严重的光污染下。

Conversely, people living in Chad, Central African Republic and Madagascar are least affected by light pollution.

反之，乍得、中非共和国和马达加斯加受光污染影响最小。

Dr Christopher Kyba, from the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, said: "The artificial light in our environment is coming from a lot of different things.

来自波茨坦德国地球科学研究中心的Christopher Kyba博士说，我们环境中的人工光来自多方面。

"Street lights are a really important component, but we also have lights from our windows in our homes and businesses, from the headlights of our cars and illuminated billboards."

“街灯是其中重要的一部分，但也有来我们的家和公司窗户上的灯光，还有汽车前照灯和广告牌上发出的光亮。”

The brightness map reveals that 83% of the world’s population, and 99% of Europeans and people in the US, live under skies nearly 10% brighter than their natural starry state.

亮度地图揭示，全球83%的人口和欧美99%的人民，生活在比自然星空下亮出10%的天空下。

For some though the artificial glow was even greater, said Dr Kyba.

其中部分人还处于更强的人工光下，Kyba博士说。

"About 14% of the world’s population don’t even use their night-time vision," he explained.

“将近14%的人口甚至不使用他们的夜间视力，”他解释道。

"The night is so bright that they use their colour daytime vision to look up at the sky."

“夜晚是如此明亮，他们在仰望天空时只使用白天的色彩视觉功能”

In Singapore, the entire population lives under this extreme level of artificial night-time brightness, and it is a problem affecting many other parts of the world.

在新加坡，所有人晚上都生活在极高的人工亮度下，而这个问题也在影响世界其他区域。

"Twenty percent of the people in Europe and 37% of the people in the US don’t use their night vision," said Dr Kyba. "It’s really an enormous number."

“欧洲20%的人民和美国37%的人都不适用夜间视力，”Kyba博士说。“这真是一个巨大的数字。”

He added: "In the UK, 26% of people are using colour vision and not night vision."

他还说“英国26%的人民使用彩色视觉而非夜间视觉”

The researchers warn that nights that never get darker than twilight are affecting nocturnal animals, while in humans, the trend has been linked to sleep disorders and disease.

研究人员警告说这些从不日暮的夜晚正在影响夜行动物，而人类也有出现睡眠障碍和疾病的趋势。

Dr Kyba said that while lighting was important for development and safety, technology needed to improve.

Kyba博士说尽管照明对于发展和安全很重要，科技仍需要改进。

"There are a lot of street lights that are not particularly well designed," he explained.

“仍然有许多街灯存在设计问题，”他解释说。

"They shine light into areas that are not useful - so up into the sky, for example, isn’t really useful for anybody.

“它们向一些无用的区域发出光亮，例如向空中，这对于任何人都没有用处。”

"There’s a big difference between having a well-lit street, which means everybody can get around really easily and safely, and a brightly lit street, which could mean there’s too much light and it’s not helping anyone."

“有充足照明的街道和明亮的街道有很大区别，前者意味着人们可以很容易地和安全地行走，而后者却发出了太多没有用处的光亮。”

The paper suggests that lights that are shielded, or can dim or turn off while not being used, could help to reduce light pollution as well as save energy.

这篇文章建议不使用时最好遮蔽、调暗或者关闭灯光，这不仅能够帮助减少光污染，也能节约能源。

The researchers add that light pollution is hindering astronomy: a third of the world now cannot see the Milky Way.

研究人员还说光污染正在阻碍天文学：世界三分之一的区域现在无法看到银河。

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