Analyzing night illumination in dependency of cloud coverage and altitude
Jürgen Krieg · 2026
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Description
Jürgen Krieg measures how clouds change the brightness of the night sky, in a 2026 study from a German optics institute. Whether clouds brighten or darken the night has stayed unsettled, partly because cloud height is rarely known and instruments differ. The institute recorded night illumination in visible and short-wave infrared light across many nights, logging cloud cover and altitude alongside.
Brightness swung widely with both factors, even within a single night. Comparing with other groups' data, the author concludes that only hemispheric sky measurements taken together with cloud data can settle how artificial light drives the glow. The study is a plea for measurement discipline in light pollution research.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jürgen Krieg |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 32 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |