Light pollution and industrial activity increase in the Arctic
Light pollution and industrial activity in the Arctic on the rise
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Light pollution and industrial activity increase in the Arctic
More than 800,000 square kilometres of the Arctic were affected by human activity in 2013. Some 85% of the areas polluted by light was due to industrial activities and not settlement areas.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Lichtverschmutzung und industrielle Aktivität in Arktis nehmen zu
Original
The European Arctic and the oil and gas production areas in the US state of Alaska and in Russia were hotspots of human activity. This is shown by a study conducted by an international research team led by the University of Zurich (UZH). Up to a third of the land area in these regions was illuminated.
Light pollution is increasing in terms of area every year, the study continued. Of the 16.4 million square kilometres analysed, 5.1% is affected by light pollution. The area is increasing by 4.8% annually, said Gabriela Schaepman-Strub from UZH.
The UZH researchers collected satellite data of artificial light at night to investigate the development of human activities in the Arctic from 1992 to 2013.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Controversial Russian soprano Anna Netrebko returns to Zurich
This content was published on
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who is said to be close to Russian president Vladimir Putin, to perform at the Zurich Opera House.
This content was published on
Multiple births following artificial insemination in Switzerland have fallen sharply over the last 20 years, shrinking from 17.4% in 2002 to 2.8% in 2023.
This content was published on
Three independent UN experts call on Switzerland and other countries to redouble efforts a year after a ECHR ruling in favour of Climate Elders.
“No US tariff negotiations”: Swiss economics minister
This content was published on
Switzerland has yet to enter formal tariff negotiations with the United States despite making contact with the administration.
Soaring cocoa prices hit Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut
This content was published on
Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut suffered from soaring cocoa prices in the first half of the 2024-2025 financial year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.