Monitoring station, protecting the night sky, saving energy
In November 2010 a measuring station, powered by solar energy, has been set up in the area of „Wilderness Dürrenstein“ by IDA (International Darksky Association), in order to monitor the brightness of the night sky. „Wilderness Dürrenstein“ is one of the least by light pollution affected regions of Austria; in the long run it strives for the establishment of a UNESCO light protection area.
Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial properties, offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and create problems. A huge number of insects and birds perish every year because of disorientation, caused by excessive amounts of artificial light. Light pollution obscures the stars in the night sky and vastly reduces their visibility. The rhythm of life depends on the diurnal patterns of light and dark, so disruption to these patterns impacts the ecological dynamics. Health effects on humans may include: increased headache incidence, sleeping disorders, fatigue, stress etc. In the end non-beneficial upward direction of night-time lighting constitutes an enormous waste of energy and is one of the largest sources of local greenhouse gas emissions.
Protecting the night sky
In the long run effective legislative measures against a further increase of light pollution may only be initiated after continuously monitoring the brightness of the night sky. The necessity of legal regulations has been proved by the International Darksky Association/IDA, especially because "light polluters" rarely are directly addressable. Nighttime measurements have so far revealed that only 10% of the total amount of upward directed lighting, emitted by the Austrian capital of Vienna, are due to streetlights. Therefore 90 % of the clearly visible Viennese dome of light are caused by building lighting, advertising, brightly illuminated shop windows and – parking lots.
Satellite observations illustrate the extent/true amount
From the year 1990 onwards, artificial lighting is monitored by satellites. Results are obvious and appalling: Europe has been flooded by light over the last two decades! There is nearly no space left for an undisturbed, "unilluminated" existence of animals and/or for internationally competitive astronomical observations.
In a global context light pollution and energy waste dramatically increase every year as might be seen on a scalable satellite map, which illustrates the world wide light pollution in 2009:
Worldwide network of light sensors/detectors
In order to ensure a continuous monitoring of the brightness of the night sky, a global network of light-sensitive devices is in construction; data will be collected and analysed centrally on a server. These "lightmeters" have already been placed at more than 150 selected locations all over the world; they monitor light pollution more precisely than satellites.
In summer 2010 the UNESCO has declared the starry sky and the closely associated cultural heritage as a world heritage, thus enabling a foundation of official light protection areas. Astronomers of IDA (Kuffner Observatory Ass.) who finance the lightmeter located at "Wilderness Dürrenstein" are confident that conditions at "Wilderness Dürrenstein" ideally meat the requirements. An initial analysis of results is scheduled for 2011.
