UCLA, USC researchers map coastal light pollution

A team of UCLA and University of Southern California (USC) researchers have mapped light pollution conditions at hundreds of locations along the Southern California coast. Their findings will help inform decision-making for future infrastructure and development plans. Light pollution disrupts mating, feeding and sleeping patterns in humans and many species native to Southern California coastlines.

“It’s going to be the largest database of ground-based whole-sky light pollution measures,” said Travis Longcore, adjunct professor at the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IoES). “We’ll use this data to investigate ecological phenomena on the ground to directly influence the policies people have for management of light conditions.”

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Study authors:

Travis Longcore, associate adjunct professor of biology, UCLA IoES

Ariel Levi Simons, marine and environmental biology graduate research assistant, USC

Xiaozhe Yin, doctoral student, USC