Darkness 4 All

The coast of Norway is lit up a lot, but we expect it to be much daker when approaching Finland. We have clear skies in Norway but as we turn towards Finland, the weather changes rapidly. It gets cloudy, windy and sometimes foggy (although it is the frozen fog again). The scenery appears relatively dark, but some glow in the distance is clearly visible. With bare eyes it is not possible to distinguish if it is aurora or skyglow from artificial lights. However, when we turn around the corner on the mountain pass near Kilpisjärvi in Finland, we are facing a scenery that looks totally unreal. Mysterious glow near Kilpisjärvi Image processed as luminance map (using Sky Quality Camera Software) It is not an UFO landing, but the new toll station between Norway and Finland that greets us from the distance. Zollstation bei Kilpisjärvi  There are not that many street lamps in Kilpisjärvi, but it is enough light to brighten the sky significantly. We measure brightness value...

In Troms ø , I can catch some sleep and then have to wait until my colleague Franz is arriving in the early evening. I can use the 1hour and 20 minutes of daylight to have a look at some attractions. After the in the snowy desert near Kiruna and Absisko, seeing the liquid water of the fjord feels strange. The temperature increase is also remarkable, as it remains near 0°C instead of -20°C. Troms ø, located 340 km north of the polar circle, is a city of northernmost superlatives: it has the northernmost University and the northernmost cathedral, the ice cathedral (among others). In the small and cute town centre, the famous arctic explorer Roald Amundsen is overlooking a stunning harbor, fjord and spiky snow capped mountains. Here, also huge cruise ships or the famous Hurtigruten line are stopping. Amundsen started many of his expeditions from this city. Troms ø in winter is only for the confident foot passenger, as some footpaths and roads are completely covered in ice...

The next morning staff at receiption tells me that all the trains are cancelled: the wind is so strong that its blowing snow on the tracks of Ofotbanen. I am worried as I have to make it across the mountain pass to Narvik today. The staff checks online and road is open but marked in red - I should drive very carefully. I leave Björkliden and the view is stunning as the wind is blowing over the frozen Lake Torneträsk. Here I am shielded by the mountains and the car is equipped with spikes inside the tyres to have grip on icy roads. Studded winter tyres to drive on icy roads The road is mainly cleared off snow, only the oncoming trucks are a problem as they go more than 90km/h even under these conditions. I stop if its safe to do. It gets problematic in some places at the open lake. Then the wind blows snow onto the road like crazy. The snowdrifts are still not too bad, so that I do not need a snowmobile. I see my first reindeer herd (though fenced) And th...

The weather forecast seems to be very difficult around here. They predicted clouds and it is clear! So time to climb up the mountain near Björkliden hotel to the aurora viewing point - picture of view in last post :P Here is the night shot. The Milky Way is visible and there is a mix of aurora and skyglow near the horizon. The night sky brightness at zenith is 21.0 mags/arcsec^2 which is 1.7 times brighter than the reference of 21.6 mags/arcsec^2. (Milky way at zenith can be 21.4 mags/arcsec^2) I drove around with road runner SQM (now working OK at the cold dry weather) and checked different places away from Abisko but it did not get much darker than 21.3 mas/arcsec^2. Lateron aurora activity became stronger and I cancelled measurements. Aurora became so strong that it got visible at my guesthouse (compare to fog the night before). Panorama taken at Abisko Guesthouse (processed with Sky Quality Camera, Euromix) Did I mention it stayed cold? What made me rather up...

I stay two nights in Abisko so I have the day inbetween to have a look around. It is freezing now, and I mean freezing: Its freezing - or would a Volkswagen lie to you? It is actually so cold that your breath freezes on hair and eyebrowes. Tourist info is closed. Fortunately, I have been in Abisko before (at +25°C) so I know some places to go. First stop is Abisko STF (tourist station) where the long distance hiking trail "Kungsleden" (kings way) starts. For me about 1 hour of walking is enough. But the freezing is rewarding as the nature looks just magnificent and its quiet and lonely (there are only very few hikers around). Frozen hair at Kunsleden hiking trail Frozen waterfall Apart from the spectacular frozen waterfall, the Sami (Laplands native people) camp is worth mentioning. Just 300 m walk from the parking lot you can learn how they built their huts and storage sheds. They even built sheds for their goats. Sami camp wiith main hut left The...

...so I got a room in Abisko in Abisko National Park , one of my favorite places in Scandinavia! I took a room with a window (same price as without window...so what do you pick?). However, you dont have blinds. Well, doesnt matter its arctic night, right? Ironically,I got a fancy LED color changing triple flood-light installation right in front of my window 😁. Disco in Abisko! Well that's very anoying. Luckily room has a 3 person bunk bed so I can use the sheets to cover the window. The evening got worse when I saw that the sky is not clear (forecast was clear) but Abisko is covered in (icy) fog resulting in a "nice" orange fog-glow. SQM reading was around 16 mags. Illuminace was 0.2lx with only few direct contributions. So I went to sleep a bit as the last night was really exhausting. Set the alarm to 10pm. Got up same fog soup 😠. Well I am here to do measurements at all weather conditions so I jumped in the car and drove through that soup. I ex...