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Resources of dark skies in German climatic health resorts

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Abstract

Illumination of nocturnal environments is increasing steadily worldwide. While there are some benefits for mankind, light at night affects animals, plants, and human health by blurring the natural distinction between day and night. International regulations exist to protect the environment for the maintenance of human health but nocturnal darkness is not considered. In Germany, cities and communities labeled as Climatic Health Resorts provide for high standards in air quality. However, their degree of nocturnal darkness is unexplored so far. In our study, we examined the degree of nocturnal darkness in German Climatic Health Resorts by two datasets based on georeferenced remote sensing data. The majority of Climatic Health Resorts (93.1 %) are able to offer a relative respite (≥ 20 mag/arcsec2) from a degraded nocturnal environment, while only 3.4 % are able to offer a dark, if by no means pristine, night environment (≥ 21 mag/arcsec2). Climatic Health Resorts emit less light as well as are less affected by night sky brightness compared to the average of non-classified communities. In combination with daytime requirements, the resorts provide conditions for a more distinct day-and-night-cycle than non-classified communities.

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Acknowledgments

The researchers were supported by grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF-033L038A) and from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology, and Research (Lichtimmissionen im öffentlichen Raum). The EU COST Action ES1204 (Loss of the Night Network) enabled the international cooperation.

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Author notes

  1. Helga U. Kuechly

    Present address: Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH, Potsdam, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research, Department of Social Epidemiology, University of Bremen, Grazer Str. 4, room 3050, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Katharina M. A. Gabriel

  2. Health Sciences Bremen, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Katharina M. A. Gabriel

  3. Leibniz-Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany

    Helga U. Kuechly & Franz Hölker

  4. Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute (ISTIL), Thiene, Italy

    Fabio Falchi

  5. Institute of Statistics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Werner Wosniok

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  1. Katharina M. A. Gabriel
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  2. Helga U. Kuechly
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  3. Fabio Falchi
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Correspondence to Katharina M. A. Gabriel.

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Gabriel, K.M.A., Kuechly, H.U., Falchi, F. et al. Resources of dark skies in German climatic health resorts. Int J Biometeorol 61, 11–22 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-016-1187-y

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