Night-time light emissions during blackout in Spain and Portugal

As the night closed in on Spain and Portugal on 28 April, polar satellites followed the blackout that lasted well into the early hours of the morning in several regions. While electricity was restored in most of the territory by evening, some areas remained in darkness longer.

Night-time images from NASA’s Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 satellites captured the extent of the blackout and tracked the gradual electricity recovery from orbit.

The images show areas with both sustained power outages and restored light emissions during night-time.

In Eastern Andalusia, the provinces of Almeria and Granada show loss of urban luminosity until well into the early hours of the morning.

The green areas signaling darkness remained visible in Castilla La Mancha, the metropolitan area of Toledo and its industrial corridor through several consecutive orbits. Similar green patches appeared in scattered regions of Levante, Sierra Morena and Campo de Gibraltar.

This GIF is made of five images from the satellites flying over the Iberian Peninsula on 29 April 2025 at 03:12, 03:36, 04:30, 04:54, and 05:18 (CEST times).