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Courtesy Photo
A visible light satellite photo of Frederick and the Baltimore-Washington region, taken the night of Sept. 7., is shown. Frederick is the central light spot in the image. |
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Seen from space on a clear night, Frederick city is a bright spot on a dark field, close to, but distinct from the sprawling mass of the Washington metropolitan area.Images from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program show the bright mass of the Washington metropolitan area's lights reaching out from the city, north and west along I-270, but stopping short of Frederick . Farther to the west, Hagerstown is visible, as are smaller light spots marking Thurmont and Emmitsburg to the north. The Earth Observation Group of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center, archives the DMSP images dating back to 1992 and makes them available to the public. U.S. Defense Department satellites, orbiting at an altitude of about 830 kilometers above the Earth's surface, collect visual and thermal images of cloud cover around the world and use that information to track and forecast weather for the military. The images have also been used to see the effects of power outages after hurricanes, and to track the incidence of petroleum producers burning off natural gas they have no means to harvest, according to NOAA. Members of the Earth Observation Group have proposed using satellite images of city lights at night to track the location and density of human development. The I-270 corridor north of Washington shows up clearly on the satellite images, and Jim Gugel, chief planner for Frederick County, said that area, including Bethesda, Rockville and Gaithersburg, is one Montgomery County has targeted for growth for some time. Crossing into Frederick County, Urbana would be the next "corridor city," to the north after Clarksville, he said. Frederick County's comprehensive plan does call for development in the area between I-270 and Urbana Pike, though the intention is for the west side of I-270 to remain undeveloped. "That would essentially remain in a predominately agricultural, rural (state)," Gugel said. Although the Census Bureau counts Frederick as part of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia region, the tendril of light from Washington may never extend uninterrupted to Frederick . Gugel said Monocacy National Battlefield, which straddles I-270 north of Urbana , is a buffer between the City of Frederick and development further south.
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