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Gadsden 1983
Gadsden, M. (1983). The orientation of scatterers in noctilucent clouds. Geophysical Research Letters 10: doi: 10.1029/GL010i009p00889. issn: 0094-8276.

The scatterers which make up a noctilucent cloud have masses sufficiently small (<10-14 kg) that they will show considerable Brownian agitation. The paths of the scatterers, as they fall from the region in which nucleation is occurring to the base of the cloud, will be irregular; their orientation, if the scatterers are nonspherical, will be continually changing direction. There will be no preferred orientation and all directions will be equally likely. This does not necessarily mean, however, that the assembly of scatterers cannot show a preferred direction of axial orientations when the assembly is studied by observing light scattered from it.

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Geophysical Research Letters
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