The World's First Long-Term Global 500 m-Resolution Monthly VIIRS Nighttime Lights Dataset (1992–Present)

This dataset contains the world's first global long-term monthly VIIRS-like nighttime light reconstruction and its companion products (MVNL). A unified spatial resolution has been adopted at 15 arc-seconds, approximately 500 m, together with ocean masking. The dataset is suitable for studies of long-term urbanization processes, economic activity intensity, and spatiotemporal dynamics of human activity. All products are provided in GeoTIFF format and include the following four categories.1. 1992_2024_monthly_ocean_filteredThis directory provides global monthly nighttime light products from April 1992 to December 2024. Each file corresponds to one year-month time slice and has been processed with ocean masking. This product supports seasonal fluctuation analysis, short-term shock detection, and monthly-scale monitoring of urban expansion and economic activity dynamics.2. 1992_2024_annual_ocean_filteredThis directory provides global annual nighttime light products from 1992 to 2024. The products are constructed from data in 1992_2024_monthly_ocean_filtered. Each file corresponds to the annual mean composite and corrected result for one year, with ocean masking applied so that only valid land pixels are retained. This product supports interannual trend analysis.3. 2025_present_monthly_ocean_filteredThis directory provides global monthly nighttime light products from 2025 onward. Each file corresponds to one year-month time slice and has been processed with ocean masking. Newly available data will be incorporated in subsequent version updates.4. 2025_present_annual_ocean_filteredThis directory provides global annual nighttime light products from 2025 onward. The products will be updated as newly available data are incorporated. Each file corresponds to the annual mean composite and corrected result for one year, with ocean masking applied so that only valid land pixels are retained.Data Processing and Unified Specifications• Spatial resolution: 15 arc-seconds, approximately 500 m• Temporal coverage: 1992–2025 (newly available data will be incorporated in subsequent version updates)• Temporal resolution: monthly and annual• Data format: GeoTIFF (.tif)• Spatial extent: global land area, after ocean masking• CRS: WGS 84 geographic coordinate system• Unit: nW cm⁻² sr⁻¹• Related publication: Hongquan Cheng, Mengqing Geng, Xuecao Li*, Shijie Li, Min Zhao, Chen Lin, Jie Wang, Peng Gong, and Yuyu Zhou*. A temporally consistent global 500 m-resolution monthly VIIRS-like nighttime light dataset (1992–2024). Earth System Science Data, 18, 3449–3479, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3449-2026.• Processing pipeline version: v1.1.0