sunglint

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noun

An optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water (an ocean, lake or river) directly towards a satellite sensor viewing the surface, so that in the sunglint area of a satellite image, smooth water appears as a silvery mirror, while rougher surface water is relatively dark.

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Meanings

nounsunglint (countable and uncountable, plural sunglints)

plural sunglints

  1. countableuncountableAn optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water (an ocean, lake or river) directly towards a satellite sensor viewing the surface, so that in the sunglint area of a satellite image, smooth water appears as a silvery mirror, while rougher surface water is relatively dark.

    The water gets its eerie hue from sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects directly from the water’s surface into the camera lens.

    2016 October 29, “Eye me a river”, in New Scientist, number 3097, page 27

Origin

From sun + glint.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sunglint. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunglint

MLA

“sunglint.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunglint. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sunglint,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sunglint.

Source: sunglint on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.