Northern Lights in Iceland

Iceland is well placed for viewing the Northern Lights. Around the poles are so called "Aurora Ovals" which are belts around the geomagnetic poles where auroras are formed. These belts vary in size according to the strenght of the solar winds that cause the auroras. Iceland is in the most active part of the Aurora Oval in the northern hemisphere and auroras can almost always be seen as long as there is clear sky.

The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and beautiful of nature's phenomena. In classic mythology, Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn; while "boreal" is a Latin word, meaning "north." The southern hemisphere's equivalent of the Northern Lights is the Aurora Australis.

What are Northern Lights?

To scientifically understand the auroras, we must turn to the Sun. Inside the Sun is a burning nuclear furnace, that will continue to burn for at least five billion years. The Sun's powerful magnetic fields can break through the suns surface and form dark areas known as sunspots. When the Sun is at the peak of its 11-year cycle, the Solar Maximum, the sunspots increase in size and number. These sunspots are the source of massive eruptions known as solar flares that blast out billions of tons of charged particles that race through space as solar wind. At speeds ranging from 300 to 1000 kilometers per second the solar wind commonly takes two to four days to travel the 93 million miles to earth.

The particles penetrate the Earth's magnetic field and are guided down into the ionosphere along the lines of the magnetic field around the poles. At an altitude of between 60 and 400 miles, the particles strike the gases in the ionosphere, causing them to glow and thus form the aurora.

Where are the Northern Lights? 

The Northern Lights, as the name suggests, are mostly limited to the Polar Regions. They occur most frequently in a 2500 km radius centered on the geomagnetic pole. This so-called auroral zone extends over northern Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland and continues over northern Canada, Alaska and along the coast of Siberia.

When can you view the Northern Lights?

In the Northern Hemisphere the best time of year for viewing the aurora is the period from September through March. In the summertime the aurora cannot be seen because of the long daylight hours.

During a moderate to large auroral display, which can last up to three hours, the amount of energy released is roughly equivalent to that of a small nuclear explosion. Typically, a display lasts a few minutes and occurs a few times per night. Auroral activity is usually highest during the hours near midnight, when the widest part of the auroral oval passes over the observer.

Light-pollution, particularly city lights, can dramatically reduce visibility, so for optimum viewing one should try and get into the countryside.

The Northern Lights colors

The auroral colors correspond to the different types of gases in the ionosphere. Oxygen atoms give off red and green light, depending on how high they are in the ionosphere; whereas nitrogen molecules give violet light. The most common color observed is green.

Sounds of the Northern lights?

Throughout the ages there have been numerous reports of people actually hearing the aurora. So far, attempts to record any such sounds have failed and most scientists are skeptical.

One scientific explanation offered for any likely sounds heard has been that the aurora causes electricity to build up in the atmosphere and that this is responsible for the crackling that might be heard.

Myths about the Northern Lights

From ancient times the Aurora Borealis has intrigued mankind and the phenomenon features prominently in the mythology and folklore of those living in northerly latitudes. The Northern Lights have been described and imaginatively explained by the Inuit peoples of Canada and Greenland, various Native American tribes, world explorers and they are even mentioned in the Old Testament. Such men as Aristotle, Descartes, Edmund Halley and Goethe were fascinated by this night-sky phenomenon and wrote papers on it.

In Iceland it was believed that if a pregnant woman gazed the northern lights then her child would be cross eyed.

To look skywards on a crisp, clear night and see these giant curtains of light weaving and swaying, gliding and flowing gracefully across the northerly heavens is pure magic. The Norwegian poet, Knut Hamsun, in his poem Snow, aptly likened the aurora to a "heavenly feast".

Resource and Further information on the Northern Lights
Aurora Experience