Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B North Sea

Date of latest update: 2025-02-03

Description

Description (EN):

Light pollution due to human activity is becoming increasingly recognised as a factor which is endangering biodiversity, shifting habitats, damaging heritage, and negatively affecting human health. Now this is becoming apparent in the Wadden Sea Region, which has remained one of the darkest regions in Europe. In this small project we will develop a robust system to monitor light pollution, crucial for the conservation and management of the Wadden Sea, and recommended in 2018 by the trilateral ministerial conference in Leeuwarden. This system will be able to accurately monitor the total amount of light at night, but also measure factors such as the colour of the light and light near the horizon. It is known that birds, bats and insects are affected differently, depending on the color, intensity and blinking regime of the light. This proposal prepares for a regular Interreg proposal, in which we will extend this monitoring system throughout the North Sea Region, working with a variety of stakeholders to protect the darkness. We will find the optimal combination of many techniques: from satellite data to ground based instrumentation. The monitoring will be crucial to understand the impacts of light on the sea, land and air, and also provide valuable input for administrators as they work for a sustainable future. The WSR is uniquely positioned for this study with a mix of rural and urban, agricultural and industrial, settings. The region stretches across a range of local, regional and national administrations. While our SSP focusses here, our developed strategies will be appropriate for use far more extensively around the North Sea, across the EU, and beyond. The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique geological and ecological makeup. Understanding how to measure light pollution so that its effects on that ecological makeup can be understood is essential in that regard - to gain data to protect a piece of global heritage that lies within our region.

Actual Achievements (EN):

The main aim of KID is to establish ways how sky brightness can be measured in a robust way to establish increase in light pollution. Since a standardized measurement of light pollution does not yet exist, it was decided to first examine the most important devices for their suitability. In addition to the accuracy of the measurements, the robustness of the measurement system for later use in the harsh environment of the Wadden Sea plays an important role. It was decided to position a measuring station with several detectors in each of the partner countries in a light-polluted and a dark area. In addition, individual detectors will be positioned at selected locations to practice the short-term, action-related measurement of light emission. The first months have been used to develop measuring stations in Oldenburg and Groningen. The current status is that 2 measurement stations are ready, in of Oldenburg and Groningen. They include several camera's, which work in several colours, and several types of sky brightness sensors, like SQMs. For the camera's, a system has been built to take images, transfer them to a server and analyze them. The aim is to have the other measuring stations ready by September, so that the Winter season can be used for sky brightness monitoring and comparing the methods. We have set up a system with regular KID-meetings, using zoom, where progress is being discussed. Oldenburg people have visited Groningen several times, and the same holds for Groningen people visiting Oldenburg.Aarhus is joining the telecons, but most of the activities there will be in the second part of the project. We have organised 2 larger meetings, also inviting stake holders. The first one, in Groningen, was the kick-off meeting, also on-line, where internally plans were discussed, and also the public stake holders were asked for comments. The second one was in Norddeich harbor, where light pollution solutions and their practical implementations were discussed.

Website: https://www.interregnorthsea.eu/kid

Thematic information

Evaluation systems and results Soil and air quality

Priority: (VI-B_NS_3) Priority 3: A climate resilient North Sea region

Priority specific objective: RSO2.7. Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO2 A greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility

Type of intervention: 079 Nature and biodiversity protection, natural heritage and resources, green and blue infrastructure

Partners (3)

Lead Partner: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Partner’s ID if not PIC: NL001932706B01

Address: Broerstraat 5, 9712CP Groningen, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Organisation type: N.a.

Website: http://www.rug.nl

Total budget: EUR 200 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 120 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 80 000.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Carl von Ossietzky Universitaet Oldenburg

Name: Carl von Ossietzky Universitaet Oldenburg

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE811184499

Address: Faculty VI Health Sciences and Medicine; Ammerländer Heerstr 114-118, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: N.a.

Website: https://uol.de/en/mediphysics-acoustics/medical-radiation-physics

Total budget: EUR 200 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 120 000.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 80 000.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Aarhus Universitet

Name: Aarhus Universitet

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DK31119103

Address: Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

Legal status: public

Organisation type: N.a.

Website: https://international.au.dk/

Total budget: EUR 62 499.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 37 499.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 59.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 25 000.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Partners and Projects info

Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg

Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Partners and Projects info

University of Aarhus

Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Small project

Operation of strategic importance (OSI) or above EUR 5 million

Project name (EN): Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Project acronym: KID

Project ID: x8M9yrZBq

Project start date: 2022-10-01

Project end date: 2024-03-31

Project status: closed

Relevant mentions and prizes:

false

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 462 499.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 277 499.00

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 60.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 277 499.00. Co-financing rate, 60.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

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Deliverables:

Initial System Design Meetings / The partners will share their current best practice then plan, and set up, an initial pilot system that builds upon existing knowledge to both enhance and correlate the data collected, and provide for inclusion of additional data gathering methods.
Complete a report on the current state of systems / Through the process of sharing hardware, data and data use, the partners will document the current state of the systems available, immediate ideas for improvements or cross-correlations, and potential strategic partners to inform future development.
Solidify Stakeholder Connections and Conduct Needs Assessment Event / We will meet with a diverse strategic group of stakeholders who can provide input on how they could and would use light pollution data were improved data sets available. This group will include life sciences researchers, planners and administrators.
Develop Light Pollution Monitoring System and Network / The partners, and their teams, will work together on developing and testing improved systems for light pollution monitoring and the means to cross-correlate those data into useful data outcomes
Develop reporting and analysis system / In parallel, a reporting and analysis system will be developed to ensure accessibility to all data and results across the partnership, and with the external stakeholders across the region
Compose End-User reports for Sustained Data Access and Use / The partners will combine their knowledge, and, with input from strategic partners, complete two final reports to both explain the system and data use and access, and how to incorporate the data into university education.
Develop data use training for Research, Planning and Education Workshop / A workshop will be developed for end users from education, life sciences research, and regional planning and administration to ensure that the data can be used in the most practical ways in these settings, and begin to be used by these audiences.
Create Communication and Outreach Media / The partners will collaborate to create media - web pages and flyers – in English, Dutch, German, and Danish to describe how the data can be accessed by the public and primary/secondary educators, and the importance and impacts of light pollution.
Evaluate System cross-correlation and potential life-science linkages / During an internal conference the partners will ensure that all data has been cross matched between all contributions, and that the resulting data sets and reporting system are valid, reliable, and accessible to both internal and external users.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 083 - Strategies and action plans jointly developed, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO84) Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects: 756
(RCO83) Strategies and action plans jointly developed: 256

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:
RCR 079 - Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations, Measurement unit:

Delivered result indicator(s):

(RCR104) Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations: 1
(RCR79) Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations: 1

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B North Sea

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-02-03

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

65 / 65 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

791 / 791 (100%)

Notes on the data

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Keep It Dark - Monitoring the Night Sky Brightness

Description

Thematic information

Partners (3)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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