Lunar semimonthly signal in cloudiness: Lunar-phase or lunar-declination effect?

The cloud amount summer nighttime data obtained from the 1994 to 2007 NASA satellite infrared and visible range measurements taken within the framework of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) were analyzed, and the contribution by lunar signal to the cloud amount was extracted. Although the fact of lunar influence on cloudiness is known, this investigation has made it possible to separate the lunar-phase and lunar-declination effects on cloudiness. The relative cloud amount tends to grow with a change in lunar phase from a quadrature to the New Moon or Full Moon and with an increase in lunar declination by absolute value. Both the effects are statistically significant, the lunar-declination effect is a little stronger. The obtained results do not seem to contradict the theory of lunar tides.