Christopher Kyba
Researcher (formerly GFZ Potsdam / Ruhr-Universität Bochum) leading global analyses of Earth’s nighttime artificial-light emissions using the Night Band instrument aboard NASA/NOAA polar-orbiting satellites (suomi-npp, NOAA-20, NOAA-21).
Kyba’s 2014–2022 global VIIRS DNB analysis (src-terrestrial-technosignatures-satellites-2026-04) reports global nighttime light emissions rose ~16% (~2%/year) over the period, with sharp regional variation: brightening in China and India, dimming in much of Europe (France −33% post-streetlight-curfew + LED conversion; Ukraine post-invasion collapse), Germany roughly flat. The methodology is the first global analysis using full-resolution per-night VIIRS data plus a viewing-angle-aware algorithm.
Kyba is principal investigator on a proposal for the esa earth-explorer-13 dedicated night-lights satellite. His work is positioned at the intersection of light-pollution science, energy policy, and — within the astrobiology framing — terrestrial technosignature calibration: Earth’s outgoing artificial light as a working model for what an alien observer might detect from a habitable exoplanet.