'Nother Sondy Tale:
CELESTIAL PHENOMENA
By Wilton Strickland
During my tour as Director of Engineering at Sondrestrom Air Base, (now
Kangerlussuaq) Greenland, in 1978, I observed at least three very
interesting celestial phenomena due to its far north location above the
Arctic Circle and very cold winter temperatures.
Many times, I observed fantastic displays of phantom suns, known by many as
sun dogs - or false suns, displayed about twenty degrees to each side of
and/or above the real sun and are caused by refraction and reflection from
high altitude ice crystals. Often, when there was only one phantom sun off
the side of the real sun, it was hard to determine which one was the real
sun because of the brightness of the phantom sun - they appeared with the
naked eye to be of the same brightness. In order to tell which was the real
sun, I’d don my shade glasses to discern the difference between them - the
real sun being the brighter one with my shades on. When three suns (phantom
one to each side) or four suns (phantom one to each side and one above) were
displayed, I knew that the real one was the center one, of course. Such
displays occur when the sun is low near the horizon and the viewer is
looking laterally through much more atmosphere than would be the case with
the sun high in the sky. I never saw a phantom sun beneath the real sun -
it would have been below the horizon.
Below are some links to photos of some wimpy phantom sun displays
photographed in cold, higher latitudes in the Sates. In Greenland, I rarely
saw the circle displayed so prominently in these photos. I often also saw a
rainbow-type reflection (spot) off to one or both sides of the sun, but I
saw many displays of phantom suns as bright as the real sun to the naked
eye.
http://www.polarnet.ca/cambay/sundog.jpg
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/dogim0.htm
I also observed many awesome aurora borealis displays on clear, winter
nights. These bright bands of glowing, charged particles are produced by the
interaction of solar wind and the earth’s magnetic field. I was far enough
north at a latitude of 67° that these displays were almost always directly
overhead and reached to the horizon on each side, sometimes, nearly a dome
of bright green light bands that seemed to be made up of shimmering,
brightly lit, silk curtains suspended vertically far overhead and hanging
down toward me with large pulsing waves traveling horizontally along them
making them appear to be absolutely alive with constant motion. Sometimes,
while looking directly overhead at the underside of the dome of lighted,
pulsing bands, I felt completely surrounded by them - a feeling of being
inside the display. Often embedded within the general fluorescent green
bands were smaller bands or spots of other colors - occasionally red, blue,
etc. These displays produced enough light on the ground around that was
easily able to read a book.
Below are links to some wimpy aurora displays in Alaska, Finland, Iceland,
etc. ‘Wish I could have had an appropriate movie camera to capture some of
the fabulous displays I saw in Greenland.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=aurora+borealis&view=detail&mid=8275F589F0B012310F288275F589F0B012310F28&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR&qpvt=aurora+borealis
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=aurora+borealis&view=detail&mid=5F21557650C165E8F8055F21557650C165E8F805&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR&qpvt=aurora+borealis
Another interesting celestial phenomenon I experienced was a period of
24-hour daylight from about 1 June until about 11 July. This is caused by
the tilt of the earth’s axis of about 23½° relative to the orbital plane.
This tilt causes the changes in seasons - spring, summer, autumn, winter -
as different parts of the earth tilt toward or away from the sun during a
revolution around the sun. It also causes periods of 24-hour daylight
and/or darkness above the Arctic circle and below the Antarctic Circle,
depending on the tilt toward or away (the season) from the sun. During
several days before and after the 24-hour periods of daylight or darkness,
there are accompanying periods of very short nights and/or days as the earth
moves into and out of those periods. The location of Sondrestrom, 35
nautical miles above the Artic Circle, places it in an area where the sun
can shine directly across the North Pole onto it during the period of
greatest tilt toward the sun.
Having no darkness during a day can be a bit disconcerting; it tends to
disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm that develops naturally throughout our
lives as we form certain habits or rhythms of life, sleep, daily activities,
etc. As the length of the daylight period increases on a daily basis, we
tend to go to bed later at the end of the day. Many times in my sitting
room late at night reading, listening to classical music, etc., I’d suddenly
realize that it was midnight or after and needed to go to bed and be ready
for a full, busy day at 0700. With bright sun shining through my window, it
was hard to realize that it was getting so late at night. To help me sleep
better during this time, I draped a blanket over my bedroom window in
addition to the usual draperies and closed the door between my sitting room
and the bedroom in order to darken the bedroom. Several times at midnight
and later, I went out driving around base and off onto the tundra to
photograph flowers, birds, rushing water in streams, etc. During one of
these very early morning outings, I was standing outside of my truck looking
back probably two miles or more slightly down-slope toward the base and saw
a security police truck leave the base and head my way. I thought, “He
doesn’t have anything else to do; he saw my truck way off out here and is
coming to say ’Hello’ and to see what I’m doing or to just have somebody
else to talk to.” I stood and waited for ‘im to let ‘im think he was doing
something.
On another night at about midnight, while I was in my sitting room, I heard
voices in the laundry room/kitchen next door. I stepped around there to
participate a few minutes in the small group’s “bull session.” While
standing there talking to them, I said, “Right now we are involved in
something that very likely none of us has witnessed before; it’s happening
to us right now, and you don’t even realize it.” They looked puzzled and
asked, “What, what?” I replied, “I’ll bet you have never before seen bright
sun streaming like this directly through (perpendicular to) a north-facing
window. In the northern hemisphere, that’s something that you‘ll see ONLY
above the Arctic Circle. Just another little thing that makes living in
Greenland enjoyable instead of the boring misery that it could be
otherwise.”
Wilton
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