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Blog Tundra Stories: Northern Lights
Friday 07 September 2012
Northern Lights. (Photo: ThinkStock)While still on Samoilov, we told you about our first sunset few weeks ago. Right now, it is already dark at night for several hours, which gives us an opportunity to see the Northern lights, another thing apart from the polar night, that we really wanted to see.
During our five hour cruise to Tiksi we had some sunny intervals, but it has mostly been cloudy since our first night here in Tiksi, except yesterday when we could enjoy a cloudless sunny day. First in the morning we were very diligent sorting crates in the warehouse, but in the afternoon we chose a bit less strenuous carco, berries on the tundra. Towards the evening the tension started to rose, when we observed almost all bright rainbow colors without any clouds in the sky and got assured that the weather would be good tonight!
Finally, it was the smokers in our group, who, during one of the regular breaks on the doorstep, called us out of the kitchen to the outside in the cold. And there they were, the whole sky covered with white-greenish light mist. At first it could have been perhaps confused with thin veils of clouds, but since for most of us it was the first time observing this phenomenon, it was just overwhelming. Sometimes for a few minutes at the same place, then quickly changing into strips directly over our heads. A couple of times the light swelled to really an impressive dance in the sky that had a slight glow in different colors.
And even if you know that all this can now be explained as reaction of particles of the solar wind with the molecules of the atmosphere - the greenish color in this case being nitrogen - we felt probably as overwhelmed as people centuries ago or even millennia. We closed those discussions pretty fast to be able to focus on the spectacle in the sky without interference of science.
Today, while there are some thin clouds in the sky, I think we will enjoy the spectacle again. This time we will take with us a thick pair of socks and a thermos of hot tea, in order to be better prepared for the freezing temperatures. In addition, we plan to prepare ourselves well for the time shift of eight hours while travelling in the direction of Germany.
Northern Lights. (Photo: ThinkStock)While still on Samoilov, we told you about our first sunset few weeks ago. Right now, it is already dark at night for several hours, which gives us an opportunity to see the Northern lights, another thing apart from the polar night, that we really wanted to see.
During our five hour cruise to Tiksi we had some sunny intervals, but it has mostly been cloudy since our first night here in Tiksi, except yesterday when we could enjoy a cloudless sunny day. First in the morning we were very diligent sorting crates in the warehouse, but in the afternoon we chose a bit less strenuous carco, berries on the tundra. Towards the evening the tension started to rose, when we observed almost all bright rainbow colors without any clouds in the sky and got assured that the weather would be good tonight!
Finally, it was the smokers in our group, who, during one of the regular breaks on the doorstep, called us out of the kitchen to the outside in the cold. And there they were, the whole sky covered with white-greenish light mist. At first it could have been perhaps confused with thin veils of clouds, but since for most of us it was the first time observing this phenomenon, it was just overwhelming. Sometimes for a few minutes at the same place, then quickly changing into strips directly over our heads. A couple of times the light swelled to really an impressive dance in the sky that had a slight glow in different colors.
And even if you know that all this can now be explained as reaction of particles of the solar wind with the molecules of the atmosphere - the greenish color in this case being nitrogen - we felt probably as overwhelmed as people centuries ago or even millennia. We closed those discussions pretty fast to be able to focus on the spectacle in the sky without interference of science.
Today, while there are some thin clouds in the sky, I think we will enjoy the spectacle again. This time we will take with us a thick pair of socks and a thermos of hot tea, in order to be better prepared for the freezing temperatures. In addition, we plan to prepare ourselves well for the time shift of eight hours while travelling in the direction of Germany.
Greetings from us for now with polar night and northern lights!
Max