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National and County Light Emissions

A CSO Frontier Series Output- What is this?

Table 3.1: Counties with highest and lowest average light emissions (nW/cm2/sr)
Counties - HighestJanuary 2019 Counties - LowestJanuary 2019
Dublin11.53 Leitrim0.52
Louth1.70 Mayo0.55
Kildare1.49 Kerry0.58
Meath1.15 Roscommon0.64
Limerick1.03 Sligo0.65

Nationally, we see that county Dublin has the highest levels of artificial light emissions in January 2019 (11.53) and Leitrim has the lowest (0.52). Indeed, Dublin emissions are almost 7 times higher than Louth, the next highest county (1.70) in January 2019. 

The counties with the next highest emissions are Kildare (1.49 units), Meath (1.15 units), Limerick (1.03 units), Cork (0.91 units), Waterford (0.90 units) and Westmeath (0.85 units). 

It can be seen from Fig 3.1 that high emissions counties tend to cluster in the East and the South of Ireland, due to the presence of major urban settlements. 

The counties with the lowest emissions in 2019 were, in addition to Leitrim, Mayo (0.55 units), Kerry (0.58 units), Roscommon (0.64 units) and Sligo (0.65 units). Counties with the lowest emissions levels tend to be found on the Western Seaboard.

Midland counties fall in the middle of county distribution, with average emissions ranging from 0.68 in Offaly to 0.85 in Westmeath. The South-East tends to have slightly higher average emissions ranging from 0.73 in Kilkenny to 0.9 in Waterford.

Table 3.2 County average light emissions, January 2019

Go to: 4. Local Light Emissions