noctilucent clouds

A form of noctilucent cloud — Clouds characterized by their electric-blue or silvery-white, wispy streaks, filaments, or ripples high in the twilight sky; Earth's highest clouds, glowing at the edge of space, serving as indicators of climate change, showing increased frequency and visibility linked to human activities like methane emissions and rocket launches; maintain unique formation in frigid summer mesosphere, from ice crystals on meteoric dust, providing scientists with high-altitude atmospheric window into changes in upper atmospheric water vapor and dynamics.

Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of noctilucent cloud
Cite this entry
APA

noctilucent clouds. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctilucent%20clouds

MLA

“noctilucent clouds.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctilucent%20clouds. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “noctilucent clouds,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctilucent%20clouds.

Source: noctilucent clouds on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.