Remote Sensing of Nighttime Light: Progress, Prospects and Possibilities in Africa (2013–2021)

Presently, only two satellites carry sensors that are involved in nocturnal lightning. These are the Defense Meteorological Satellite/Operational Linescan System (DMPS/OLS) and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) of Suomi NPP satellite. However, despite the progress made globally and prospects in nocturnal mapping, there is little to point out of Africa. Use of bibliometrix, an R package was employed for data extraction and analysis (2013–2021). Over the years, nighttime lights have been applied in various fields across the world with the most application in the United States of America, closely followed by China. Despite, the seemingly low usage of nighttime lights in Africa, collaborative networks show that some African scientists have been teaming up with colleagues outside the shores of Africa. As nighttime lights provide important constraints and inputs for the spatial modelling of human population growth and distribution, among others, there is therefore the need for geospatial scientists in Africa to open the vast lands of Africa to this unique dataset and develop models that are unique to the African space in studying its urban dynamics and natural environment.