![]() ![]() But there was far more to my trip than northern lights. I photographed it against the line of trees, against the people and, best of all, against a really picturesque wood building that turned out to be the outhouse. Normally, it’s just a colored haze but at times this night, it solidified into rivers of striped green sand that flowed across the entire sky. ![]() The lights were truly spectacular … rays of glowing green spread across the entire sky in writhing fingers that flowed, curled and reformed into folding curtains tinged red on the bottom. Every so often, the door would burst open, the guide would shout something cryptic and the whole mob would dash outside to stand there gasping with delight and, in several cases, trying to take pictures with their flash cameras. Half of them, dressed in red Antarctic-type parkas, others in matching blue parkas, huddled around the yurt’s two propane stoves while their guide stood on watch. Japanese tourists love northern lights, and we had a full contingent. The high point was my experience at Chena Hot Springs, where they’ve gotten aurora viewing thing down to a fine science.Īt 10 pm, we climbed into a train of snow buses and thirty minutes later and 1,700 feet higher, arrived at a heated yurt surrounded by conveniently photogenic spruce trees. I spent three glorious sleep deprived nights watching fabulous iridescent lights. An active forecast rates a “four” on a scale of zero to nine. Since 1999, the University of Fairbanks has had an aurora forecasting website, which looks at sunspot activities during the previous month in order to make an educated and relatively accurate guess on the forecast for lights. Aristotle saw enough auroras to come up with a theory that they were caused by light leaking out of crystals in the sky. There is a story about a Roman emperor who saw a red sky to the north and sent troops to help a burning city only to find nothing on fire. If the aurora is really active, the band can reach as far as the tropics. The lights can usually be seen in a fairly narrow belt typically one hundred miles wide. All this happens in a band between sixty and one hundred and twenty miles above the earth. Ionized nitrogen makes blue and neutral nitrogen makes purple-red ripple edges. Low altitude oxygen makes the most common color, yellow-green. Those mesmerizing colors, said University of Fairbanks aurora researcher Dirk Lummerzheim, depends on the gas being struck by the electrons. That band, by sheer coincidence, lands squarely in the skies over Fairbanks most of the time. There are basically two things to do in Fairbanks during mid winter: watch northern lights and commune with the ice.It is one of the world’s best places to view the aurora borealis, which exists in a donut around the earth’s magnetic north and south poles. ![]() Of course, I added chemical hand and foot warmers.Two balaclavas, a neck gaiter and a wool hat covered my head.I was warm enough, except whenever I removed the gloves to change camera batteries, which happened distressingly often. Wearing glove liners covered by thick, insulated mittens and “bunny boots”, the “official” Alaska state winter footwear, I was good to go. I piled on the clothes: two sets of long underwear, top and bottom, then a fleece vest covered with a sweater over heavy insulated pants and a monster-thick jacket I named “Brute.” That meant standing outside like a night owl at two in the morning in minus 45 for, say, a total of three or four hours. I was one of the most enthusiastic observers.Īfter dressing the role, my goal was to photograph the northern polar lights. ![]() International visitors come to the northern reaches of Alaska and Canada to observe the magic of this unique interaction. Children go outside for recess until the temperature dips below minus 20, Soap bubbles freeze, so does a mug of coffee-just toss one into the air.Įlectrically charged sun particles interacting with the earth’s magnetic field plus various gasses found in the atmosphere, release an energy of colored light, known as the northern lights. Locals just leave ’em hiccupping in parking lots. Triple thick insulated windows have gas between the panes. But actually, when you’re dressed for frigid, the whole thing is, well, fun, sorta.įairbanks during a solid freeze is like visiting another planet. Yes, I did want to experience Alaska in winter, but visiting during the decade’s worst freeze was not part of my plan. Hope you’re all bundled up.”He didn’t mention that we would soon experience iced eyelashes that would seal our eyelids shut. The pilot announced, “Welcome to Alaska, the current temperature is minus 43. A hazy soup, obscuring the city of Fairbanks, forced our jet to circle in a holding pattern until the tower was able to clear it for landing. ![]()
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