No data was provided on the number of citizens who actually believed this. They said that the images made uninformed citizens think that natural gas flares were lighting up the land 'as bright as a major metropolitan city'. In June, 2015, over two years after the images were published, researchers at the University of North Dakota released a study that reports that the images were 'highly processed, manipulated and inaccurate'. Pioneer sold its first MAGS unit in late 2014 to a company operating in North Dakota, where flare gases are most often simply burned onsite, the gases wasted. Pioneer Energy's Mobile Alkane Gas Separator (MAGS) system separates flare gases that naturally occur at drilling sites into three streams: one can be captured in tanks and shipped off for sale, another powers generators that run the drilling operation, and a third powers MAGS itself. Natural gas processing plant: A potential solution to natural gas flaring. The low-population area of western North Dakota appeared like a cluster of lights on the satellite image. Electric illumination and natural gas flaring caused the Bakken oil field to stand out as a cluster of small bright spots on these images. NASA published several versions of the image at different resolutions. In November, 2012, shortly after the Suomi NPP images were produced, NASA published a night-time view of North Dakota's Bakken oil field as part of an article on their Earth Observatory website. This practice produces a large flare of burning gas that illuminates the surrounding area and vents heat and pollution into the atmosphere. The flared natural gas was originally dissolved in the crude oil and came out of solution at the time of production.ĭrilling companies burn it by flaring because the gas is inconvenient or unprofitable to use on the drilling site, or, because it is too costly to transport to market. The map also shows the geographic extent of active oil fields revealed by their electric lights, and, the light and heat produced by natural gas flaring. The most obvious pattern on the map is the geographic distribution of cities revealed by their electric lights. NASA used this data to produce a map that displays night-time electric illumination and heat sources across the planet. In April 2012 and October 2012 the satellite collected cloud-free night observations of visible and infrared light. This data allows NASA to map the glow of natural events and human activity across the planet. The VIIRS observes visible and infrared wavelengths of light emanating from Earth.

These instruments include the VIIRS (visible infrared imaging radiometer suite). It orbits the Earth about 14 times each day, observing the surface and collecting data using a variety of instruments. NASA launched the Suomi NPP spacecraft in October 2011.

Nigeria oil blocks map