A week ago I flew into one of the harder natural phenomena to believe in, the Polar Night. The concept of 24 hour darkness is nigh on impossible to imagine when sitting at home in Melbourne. When snug in a blanket of 35 degree summer and contemplating an afternoon trip down to the beach timed to avoid the highest times of UV and the associated lobster disease (also known as sunburn). And yet, only 30 to 40 hours away by plane is Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a world that at the outset seems alien and hostile. Where the extremes are daily life, and people live anyway. It’s a mind jump for a kid from more friendly latitudes, but I’m here anyways, whilst my family downs summer beers and strawberries. I’m knee deep in snow, learning intimate things about icy roads and the beauty of moonlight reflected on snow encrusted mountains.
The polar night is a phenomena caused by the tilt of the Earth, just as it gets darker in winter and lighter in summer, the polar areas experience this somewhat more extremely than most of us. Due to the tilt in Winter it’s dark most of the time beyond the polar circle. The level of darkness varies depending on distance from the pole, here in Longyearbyen at about 78N we get a teensy weensy little bitty bit of light at noon, which gives the mountains a slight silhouette. Whilst this is happening of course the Southern Hemisphere is in Sun and those buggers are getting midnight sun, or 24 hour daylight, which is arguably quite a bit more fun. The polar night is what you can see in the photo below, where the darkness begins and we said goodbye to the blue skies and sun. Psychological impacts of this to be discussed later.
As usual I’m here as a student, on a course with the University Centre Svalbard (UNIS) to research the nature of biological activity, in particular bioluminescence, in the polar night. I’m once again caught between sciences as a biological geographer playing with technology, but that’s where the fun happens, at the intersection between disciplines.
We have about 20 students from around the world, around the world being somewhat Northern Hemisphere centric, but it’s an awesomely diverse group of Northern Hemispherians. And we’re working as part of a much bigger project known as Mare Incognitum, which is bringing together scientists from almost everywhere to investigate the poorly known black box of the polar night. Once again we’re learning about how little we know of the world, there’s so much still to find, and that’s what we get to do on this trip.
So in coming posts you can look forward to some science, some anecdotes and hopefully some awesome photos, if I can work out how to photograph the night.
The polar night is a phenomena caused by the tilt of the Earth, just as it gets darker in winter and lighter in summer, the polar areas experience this somewhat more extremely than most of us. Due to the tilt in Winter it’s dark most of the time beyond the polar circle. The level of darkness varies depending on distance from the pole, here in Longyearbyen at about 78N we get a teensy weensy little bitty bit of light at noon, which gives the mountains a slight silhouette. Whilst this is happening of course the Southern Hemisphere is in Sun and those buggers are getting midnight sun, or 24 hour daylight, which is arguably quite a bit more fun. The polar night is what you can see in the photo below, where the darkness begins and we said goodbye to the blue skies and sun. Psychological impacts of this to be discussed later.
As usual I’m here as a student, on a course with the University Centre Svalbard (UNIS) to research the nature of biological activity, in particular bioluminescence, in the polar night. I’m once again caught between sciences as a biological geographer playing with technology, but that’s where the fun happens, at the intersection between disciplines.
We have about 20 students from around the world, around the world being somewhat Northern Hemisphere centric, but it’s an awesomely diverse group of Northern Hemispherians. And we’re working as part of a much bigger project known as Mare Incognitum, which is bringing together scientists from almost everywhere to investigate the poorly known black box of the polar night. Once again we’re learning about how little we know of the world, there’s so much still to find, and that’s what we get to do on this trip.
So in coming posts you can look forward to some science, some anecdotes and hopefully some awesome photos, if I can work out how to photograph the night.