Three-Dimensional Velocity Analysis and Particle Size Dynamics from Multi-Site RGB-Photometry of Noctilucent Clouds
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
2026-05-22 v1 Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Abstract
A method for measuring the altitude and particle size of noctilucent clouds, based on positioning and photometry from wide-angle three-color cameras, has been developed to determine the three velocity components, particle radius, and its derivative with respect to time for different cloud fragments. The updated method is applied to observational data of bright clouds during the summers of 2023-2025. Meridional motion of the cloud is found to be the principal factor driving the change in particle size. The effect of particle size evolution in the presence of a strong latitudinal temperature gradient is also studied.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.21687,
title = {Three-Dimensional Velocity Analysis and Particle Size Dynamics from Multi-Site RGB-Photometry of Noctilucent Clouds},
author = {Oleg S. Ugolnikov and Olga Yu. Golubeva and Egor O. Ugolnikov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.21687},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics