Land of the Midnight Sun

By ThorNews on June 25, 2012 • ( 0 )

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the north of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours.

The number of days per year with potential midnight sun increases the farther poleward one goes from the equator. Although approximately defined by the polar circles, in practice midnight sun can be seen as much as 90 km (56 miles) beyond the polar circle, because the sun is a disk and not a point, and the exact latitudes of the farthest reaches of midnight sun depend on topography and vary slightly year-to-year.

There are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, so the countries and territories whose populations experience it are limited to the ones crossed by the Arctic Circle, e.g. Norway, Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), Denmark (Greenland), Finland, Sápmi, Russia, Sweden, the United States (Alaska), and extremities of Iceland. In Svalbard, Norway, the northernmost inhabited region of Europe, there is no sunset from approximately April 19^th to August 23^rd. The extreme sites are the poles where the sun can be continuously visible for a half year.

The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.

Many Norwegians can experience the midnight sun. The reason is the warm Gulf Stream that makes it possible to live north of the Arctic Circle. The picture was taken on June 22^nd at 11:51 p.m. on Otterøya, North-Trøndelag County.

When can I experience the midnight sun in Norway?

Andenes – 69, 32 ° N – May 22 to 21 July
Alta – 69, 58 ° N – May 19 to 21 July
Bardufoss – 69, 04 ° N – May 23 to 19 July
Berlevåg – 70, 51 ° N – May 15 to 28 July
Bodø – 67, 17 ° N – June 4 to July 8
Harstad – 68, 48 ° N – May 25 to 18 July
Hammerfest – 70.67 ° N – May 16 to July 27
North Cape – 71.10 ° N – May 14 to July 29
Svolvær – 68.14 ° N – May 28 to July 14
Tromsø – 69.65 ° N – May 20 to July 22
Vardø 70.23 ° N – May 17 to July 26

Source: yr.no, Wikipedia

Text modified by: Thor Bugge Lanesskog, ThorNews

Photo by: Anette Broteng Christiansen, ThorNews