NASA Black Marble
NASA's calibrated nighttime-lights data product derived from VIIRS; used by Bloomberg to document Cuba's grid collapse.
Last refreshed: 18 May 2026
How can a NASA sensor measure a Cuban grid failure better than Cuban state media reports it?
Timeline for NASA Black Marble
- What is NASA Black Marble?
- NASA Black Marble is the agency's calibrated nighttime-lights data product, derived from the VIIRS Day-Night Band aboard the JPSS satellite series. It produces a daily global composite at 500-metre ground resolution, available openly through NASA Earthdata.Source: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- How does NASA Black Marble measure electricity availability?
- Black Marble corrects raw VIIRS imagery for atmospheric scattering, lunar interference and seasonal effects, producing comparable nighttime-radiance values. Changes in radiance over time indicate changes in electricity availability and human activity.Source: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- Does NASA Black Marble track Cuba's blackouts?
- Yes. Bloomberg's May 2026 satellite analysis using Black Marble found Cuban nighttime light fell by up to 50 per cent across the island, with Santiago de Cuba and Holguín worst affected.Source: Bloomberg
Background
NASA Black Marble is the agency's calibrated nighttime-lights data product, derived from the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) Day-Night Band aboard the JPSS (Joint Polar Satellite System) satellite series operated jointly by NASA and NOAA. The product corrects raw VIIRS data for atmospheric scattering, lunar interference and seasonal effects to produce comparable nighttime-radiance imagery used for studying electricity availability, urban growth and human activity patterns.
Black Marble outputs underpin Bloomberg's May 2026 satellite analysis of Cuba, which found nighttime light fell by up to 50 per cent across the island, with Santiago de Cuba and Holguín worst affected. The product team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It produces a daily global composite at 500-metre ground resolution, available openly through NASA Earthdata.
Lowdown treats Black Marble imagery as a primary verification source under the double-source rule. It is regarded as particularly hard for the Cuban state to dismiss because the underlying sensors are US and European space-agency instruments rather than diaspora or partisan media. Methodology limitations include cloud cover, moonlight interference and the resolution floor that obscures household-level granularity. The product is also a primary input into the Atlas of Energy Poverty work led by Christopher Elvidge's Earth Observation Group at the Colorado School of Mines.