Dates of Images:

Pre-Event: May 2024

Post-Event: 7/9/2024

Date of Next Image:

Unknown

Summary:

The Black Marble (BM) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images map the impact of flooding and wind from Tropical Storm Beryl around Houston, Texas and its effects on electric grids. The baseline image is from May 2024, a cloud-free, moon-free composite, and the “after" image is from July 2024. There is a layer to display where clouds are present in the "after" images. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts from the extreme heat to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery.

From the BM data, raster calculators between the baseline and July 9th were performed. The resulting symbology and information represent pixels that likely suffered a large amount of power loss for a given date relative to baseline.

Suggested Use:

This data represents the difference between the baseline (May 2024 composite) and post-event (various dates in July) snapshots. Baseline data was collected across several clear days in May 2024. The resulting calculations are in a yellow-red color scale. Red indicates more severe impacts; e.g., an area that previously was clearly illuminated in May before any outages was much more dark after the hurricane. Color scale buckets roughly correspond to radiance categories, where low loss indicates 10-25% radiance loss, medium 25%-50%, and high exceeding approximately 50% radiance loss.

Terrestrial grey areas represent cloud cover on one or several time periods of data collection and are NoData values. Grey also encapsulates water cover.

Note that not all corrections to the data have been performed. While cloud cover obfuscation correction was accounted for, moon phase and other corrections may cause artifacts and inaccuracies. This data is meant to show relative loss for situational awareness and serve as a signal for areas of concern.

Satellite/Sensor:

NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite (VNP46) is derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP)

Resolution:

500 meters

Credits:

NASA Black Marble Science team

Please cite the following two references when using this data:

Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883.

Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43.

Point of Contact:

Virginia Kalb

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

E-mail: virginia.l.kalb@nasa.gov

Additional Links:

NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite

Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6).

Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143.

Esri REST Endpoint:

See URL section on right side of page.

WMS Endpoint:

https://maps.disasters.nasa.gov/ags03/services/hurricane_beryl_2024/Power_Loss_Maps/MapServer/WMSServer

Data Download:

https://maps.disasters.nasa.gov/download/gis_products/event_specific/2024/hurricane_beryl/blackmarble/