The Earth Story

Original caption:

Shot north of the Arctic Circle in the summer - the sun in the sky spins around this location and the camera pivots seemlessly with it. 

Wonderland: Northern Lights over Svalbard

Looking like a backdrop just waiting for the Polar Express to come whistling through, this scene is found on Svalbard, where the northern lights shine over the snowy Longyear Breen glacier. Found about halfway from Norway to the North Pole, the Svalbard archipelago is about as close to Santa's home base as you could get if you want to leave there year-round; it's the northernmost settlement that has a permanent civilian population. (Alert, Nunavut is farther north and is occupied all year, but only by rotating shifts of researchers and military personnel.) The archipelago sits at the tail end of the Gulf Stream, which here is called the West Spitsbergen Current, so it is similar to the British Isles in that it is warmer than other lands found at the same latitudes. The (comparatively) warm waters of the current fuel plankton blooms, which in turn feed greater numbers of fish and seals, attracting large numbers of polar bears to the islands in turn. Reindeer roam the interior of the islands, fattening themselves up for the dark winters by eating and eating throughout the whole of the Arctic summer days. The midnight sun in the summer lets them disregard the usual diurnal rhythms, and only rest when they need a break from chowing down. By the time winter and the polar night comes, they have a four inch layer of fat to protect them. It might make taking off with a full sleigh harder, but it provides the reindeer with energy and warmth to survive in this beautiful northern outpost.

-CEL

Image: Dmitry Kuznetsov (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu) Source: http://bit.ly/1QY3duM http://bit.ly/1mgTCnb