Darkness 4 All

Frozen Lake Kilpisjärvi and Mount Saana In the morning we meet our IGB colleague Georgiy and his team consting of two Russians from Irkutsk: Konstantin and Ilja and Joonathan from Finland. They are all lake physicists interested in the dynamics of the water under the ice. Today's task is to install some devices on the ice of Lake Kilpisjärvi. The lake is frozen with ice thickness about 50 cm at the moment. I am allowed to join the other physicists to go on the lake. First task is to fit the warm and safe winter working suit, then we take the snowmobile and I take a seat in the sledge where we can store equipment. It is a bumpy ride with two Siberians and a Kasach...... Winter working suit Dashing through the snow.... Our team disappearing in the snowy desert First job is finding the place for the installations. Yesterday a hole was drilled through the ice and we are supposed to drop some underwater measurement devices there. However it was snowing and storm...

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...