Dark skies can affect our experience of nature, landscapes and greenspaces and can benefit our health and wellbeing and local wildlife. The Dark Sky and Light Pollution Dataset for Wales has been created to identify the strategic and local resource in remote, rural, peri-urban and urban areas for use as an evidence base to inform policy intent, practice and provision for wellbeing benefits.

The dataset is based upon satellite imagery taken at 1:30 A.M in December 2019 by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Suomi National Polar-orbiting satellite with the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) capturing visible and infrared imagery used in this dataset and later processed in 2021.

A set of maps have been created to display the dark skies data against the following geographical boundaries:

• Local Authority areas
• Future Wales boundaries
• Designated landscapes (AONBs and National Parks)
• NRW Operational Areas
• National Landscape Character Areas
• LANDMAP Visual & Sensory aspect areas

StoryMap Link:

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f66a917270894e8e9f194a1b75e83c28

Dark Skies and Light Pollution in Wales web app:

https://luc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/index.html#/1cd6ba8a1d7d4a62aff635cfcbaf4aec

Attribution Statement:

Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains Earth Observation Group information © Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy.