Talk:Midnight sun/Archive 1

Archive 1

issues

In general, visitors and newcomers are most affected; they are easily spotted in residential areas by the aluminum folium glued onto their bedroom windows to obtain darkness inside.

Well, I may just be a very bad observer, but living north of the arctic circle (in Norway) I have never spotted any windows with aluminum foil. Unless someone comes up with a citation it should be removed. Xenos 03:44, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

$ This is interesting:

The period of midnight sun is reportedly very taxing on the human body. Peaks in the suicide figures and increased severity of mental disorders have been demonstrated to occur in summer months.

I was under the impression that it is the long winter nights that caused depression in arctic countries, especially because that's what's claimed by people living there! Maybe the negative effects of white nights are related to sleep deprivation? -- Miguel

As a person living in Norway, I am also surprised by this statement. Peaks in suicide during sommer is more often explained as unsatisfied expectations rather than too much light.

Anyway, that Iceland is a place to experience the midnight sun is strange considering that the nothern part of Iceland is below tha Artic circle. If noone protests, I'm going to change that. (By and large, Norway is _the_ country to watch it, but I don't want to be looked upon as a nationalist.)

Jon

There is midnight sun in Iceland, because of refraction. This fact is included in the article: Due to refraction, the midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly below the polar circle, though not exceeding a degree (depending on local conditions). Please do not remove the Iceland reference. Gerritholl aka Topjaklont | Talk 17:48, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

OK, then I don't. (However, would you call it 'midnight sun'? At least a parenthetic (due to refraction) should be included. Jon

Hey guys, if the sun won't set what do you call it, midnight sun? Though you must be careful not to miss the couple of nights this could happen in Iceland;-) Same goes for Finnish town of Rovaniemi, which is marketed as the town of midnight sun; pretty much at same northern latitude as north cost of Iceland. Seikku Kaita (talk) 08:26, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Midnight sun at the Arctic Circle

The length of the time when the sun is above the horizon varies from 20 hours at the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle to 186 days at the poles.

I don't understand - I think one should be able to see the sun at the Arctic Circle, for 24 hours on summer solstice. --Puzzlet Chung 06:53, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

I have a question. I am writing a short story, and I want to keep my facts straight. I was in Finnish Lapland in January in the mid 1980s, and I remember seeing the midnight sun. Yet, the information on this website states that the midnight sun only occurs in summer. If this is so, what is the correct wording for what I saw? --Chris

Um, if you were in Lapland in January, you probably hardly saw the sun at all - the winter is just the opposite. --BluePlatypus 01:24, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Chris, what you saw in Lapland in January was probably aurora (astronomy). --Langfeldt 12:15, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

The thing you experience in Finnish Lapland in January is "kaamos", the day that is over before it begins, since there is a dawn and there is a dusk, but no day in between them.

Help! I don't believe that midnight sun lasts for 186 days at the poles. That would be more then half a year - that is impossible! On vernal and autumnal solstice the sun shines exactly 12 hours at every point of the earth, even at the poles. And I did never hear that polar sun and polar night switch like electric light! The duration of these phenomenons must be shorter. If I assume a daily change of sunshine duration of one hour, there would remain a time of (182-24=)158 days. But i don't know the true values for the poles. (Otherwise i would have changed the page). -- 84.160.130.4 22:28, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

That was mine above! --W-alter 22:30, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The north and south poles are stationary on the axis of rotation - the only movement is caused by the 365.2422 day orbit around the sun. At northern summer solstice, the axis is tilted 23 degrees toward the sun at the north pole and 23 degrees away from the sun at the south pole. At equinox, if you were on the sun, the Earth would look like it's leaning sideways 23 degrees. In the meantime, the earth is still turning on the axis and the north pole is not "moving". However, the move of Earth's position no longer has the north pole 23 degrees inside the daylight zone, but now right at the night-day line. For the next three months, the north pole will move into and through the night zone where the sun can't reach it.

A point further south than the pole, however, is constantly circling around the pole, and at equinox, is circling into and out of the daylight in each 24 hour period.

182.5 days would be an expected length for day and then for night at a pole. However, I can accept 186 days for day because the sun's diameter is not a point but a disk, and gravity and atmosphere can refract the sun around the curvature of the Earth for a short distance. GBC 16:48, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Iceland again

With regard to the above question of whether a "true" midnight sun can be experienced in Iceland - the island of Grímsey at least lies directly on the arctic circle, so it's possible to see it there even without the need for refraction. ^_~ -- Schnee (cheeks clone) 02:14, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but that's just a few square kilometers of the country... I think it'd be a bit misleading. Although the idea of 'midnight sun' can be a bit vague, since it does stay light outside all night in the summer for quite a distance south of the Arctic Circle. (all of Iceland, for sure) --BluePlatypus 01:27, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

There is quite a tourist trade in Grímsey because of the midnight sun, so people actually go there to witness it. Also because of refraction, a sizable portion of the 'mainland' also gets it. I live at the edge of this zone at ca. 100 km south from the circle (the view of the extreme north horizon is blocked by a mountain so it doesn't really matter). It's silly to speak of a "true" midnight sun (vs. a fake one?), the observers don't see the difference. --Bjarki 09:11, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Permanent Settlements in Antarctic Circle

Re: "Since there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle..." There are some, in fact, but they aren't "cities." Argentina's Base Orcadas has been permanently inhabited since 1904, largely to credit Argentina's Antarctic claim... in opposition to the British who annexed the South Orkney Islands along with the Malvinas in 1908 as part of the Falkland Islands Dependency. It seems like a minor detail, but I think permanent habitation is important to the validity of the various Antarctic claims. Maybe someone who has worked on the article previously could clarify that little detail.

As an inhabitant of McMurdo Station in Antarctica I have experienced midnight sun with more than 1,000 people at McMurdo and many more at year round stations. The United States operates three year round stations, McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, and Palmer. Many other nations have permanent stations as well such as the Italy, Russia, and New Zealand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.116.182.142 (talk) 06:32, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Picture from Saint Petersburg relevant?

What is the basis for presenting a picture from Saint Petersburg at the 59th parallel as an illustration of the midnight sun fenomenon. Unless there is presented some argument for this, I will remove the picture from the article.--EvenT 22:45, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

The purpose of this picture is to illustrate the paragrapf about the related phenomena - the white night. It's clear that white night is not the same as midnight sun, but it's quite close. (Anonymous from St. Petersburg)

By the way, the name of the pictured bridge is Alexander Nevsky Bridge, not The Liteyny Bridge - the name of that file is incorrect. You can check it by reading corresponding articles. (Anonymous from St. Petersburg) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.209.231.150 (talk) 10:47, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

White Night

Do other places, such as Iqaluit, experience white nights too? Nocturnal Wanderer ^sign 17:37, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I'm not sure how far south it extends but if St. Petersburg has it at 60° then Iqaluit at 63° surely does. --Bjarki 09:03, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Nuclear Weapons

Can anyone explain why there is a link to "Nuclear Weapons" in the "See Also" section? What does the midnight sun have to do with nuclear weapons in any way? I believe this link should probably be removed unless someone knows the reason for it. --Cecilkorik (talk) 22:28, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

On the influence on people

I stayed in Upernavik for three months last summer, and most of the time there was midnight sun. There, people react to it in a manner where they stay up very long. Kids stay out till 2-3 am. I thought a lot about how to visualize the influnce of the constant sun on people and the climate and I came up with this photo taken at 11:45 pm. I do not know if it could be of relevanse in the article? -- Slaunger (talk) 21:15, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

The aforementioned image has been deleted due to privacy concerns. --Slaunger (talk) 10:10, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Confusion in the arctic

Just as day and night are confused in the arctic so sometimes you can't tell which is which, so this article is equally confused and contradictory. This is an arctic article. By the time I was finished reading it I did not know day from night. It needs to be placed on a systematic geographic level. So, get your globe and atlas out and go to work! For example, just what would "mostly north of the arctic cicle" mean? Does that imply there is any midnight sun south of the arctic circle? But, we thought that is just what the circle delimited! I suggest starting with the earth's tilt. Then we systematically define what happens north to south (or south to north) from solstice to solstice including the equinoxes. We might start by saying, between the arctic and antarctic circles is never a day without a night. Then explain why there would ever be continuous day or continuous night. Etc. Best of luck you amateur geographers.Dave (talk) 04:28, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Polar Night

The effect of the polar night, that is, not experiencing day for long durations of time is said to cause Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D., a type of depression caused by lack of natural light. High-intensity daylight-spectrum lamps and tanning beds are a popular solution for relief from S.A.D.

Are these sentences really necessary? It seems a bit irrelevant to state the effects of the polar night on people in this article when it's stated in its' own article. Especially when there isn't even any specific information as to how midnight sun effects people, aside from difficulty sleeping. la nuit américaine 20:27, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

 Fixed   Set Sail For The Seven Seas  282° 00' 00" NET   18:48, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Equinox at the North Pole

Perhaps someone can tell me what you would experience at the North Pole at the Equinox. Presumably 12 hours day and 12 hours night, but with the sun very close to the horizon day and night. So close in fact that the very next day, it would be above the horizon the whole time (in March) and below the horizon the whole time (in September). Escoville (talk) 11:47, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

At the poles, it is the geometric centre of the sun that will be on the horizon all day at the equinoxes; but because the sun is seen as a disk and not a point, part of the sun will be above the horizon all day long. Also, due to atmospheric refraction, the sun will appear to be higher than this. So, the poles do get midnight sun at the equinoxes and more specifically, both poles get midnight sun at the same time, despite the fact that due to the unique geographical location of the poles, the concept of day and night is meaningless and therefore there is no midnight. Hope this helps.   Set Sail For The Seven Seas  345° 51' 15" NET   23:03, 10 November 2009 (UTC)