Light shines in High Arctic darkness

People in the High Arctic say their 24-hour darkness isn't as dark as it used to be, and a weather researcher says it's because of the warming climate.

"We still have a daylight and there's still blue, green, red down there — there's sun sign still," said Zipporah Ootooq Aronsen, who lives in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. "It's not usually like that."

People in Resolute Bay now sometimes see a distant island that in the past was only visible during daylight hours.

"It never happened like that before," Aronsen said. "Now we can see it once in a while, when it's a clear day."

Wayne Davidson, a weather researcher in Resolute Bay, said warmer thermal layers over cold dense polar air cause light to bend and travel farther.

"If there's a huge contrast between colder and warmer air, there's longer travel of light from any locations," he said.


Read more: www.cbc.ca...

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Okay, I admit I am not a scientist but how would global warming produce light???? (and we won't even get into the global 'warming' verses global 'cooling' aspect of this)

They say there's longer travel of light (when it's warmer)? Light is effected by temperature? So the light is longer in the summer (not counting the Earth axis and proximity to the Sun of course) ??? I didn't know that.

I dunno. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think the Earth is getting ready for a (physical) pole shift!

It is pretty interesting. I guess whn the days are warmer the light can pass directly through into Earth. And on the Colder days there may be more ice cryatals present withn the atmosphere which would cause the light to reflect more of each isc crystal obstructing the light photonic traffic. Polar shift, could be or there is just more radiation comming into earth region from celestial parent star. the more radiation i would assum could generate warmer temps. melting ice crystals allowing more photon travel.

Funny thing is I have seen these new clouds out when I am traveling by car at night that are lit on nites when the moon isnt present in visual area (usually over fields or farms) when traveling between Ohio and Pa. These clouds look like streched diamonds laying sideways and they are red or blue in tint. So mabey there are changes happining upon Earth that we are beginning to visually witness..

S&F

reply to post by Human_Alien


Just speculating, but I suppose warmer air is less dense and therefore interferes and obstructs less light. Less obstruction equals more light. I could also speculate that some weather change could reflect light back to the Earth.

I agree with you though. I don't believe there will be a "physical" pole shift, but I think this change might be from the Earth's Axis Wobble. Astronomers could explain better than me, but as the axis tilts closer to the sun, perhaps it allows more light to the North Pole during winter. With everything centered around 2012, maybe that is the date that the axis is most tilted toward the sun and then will slowly work farther away?

You would think the Inuits would have some mythology or history similar to Mayans and Native Americans that would recount this occurence in their history.

As soon as I read this I thought:
Maybe the Earth has tilted its axis by a few degrees.
There's a thread here about all the recent earthquake activity...
Chilean quake caused axis shift...Scientists say
Even one of the great ATS threadmakers wrote about it.
Search Scott Creighton...
That could be what's caused a recent drop in temps...
To me, a novice, that would explain alot of occurances lately.
Even if shifted 1 degree or 2, there would be a change.

But then again, I think the Earths rotation is wobbly.

But again, I'm only a novice...

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
It is pretty interesting. I guess whn the days are warmer the light can pass directly through into Earth. And on the Colder days there may be more ice cryatals present withn the atmosphere which would cause the light to reflect more of each isc crystal obstructing the light photonic traffic. Polar shift, could be or there is just more radiation comming into earth region from celestial parent star. the more radiation i would assum could generate warmer temps. melting ice crystals allowing more photon travel.

Funny thing is I have seen these new clouds out when I am traveling by car at night that are lit on nites when the moon isnt present in visual area (usually over fields or farms) when traveling between Ohio and Pa. These clouds look like streched diamonds laying sideways and they are red or blue in tint. So mabey there are changes happining upon Earth that we are beginning to visually witness..

S&F

edit on 12/29/10 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)

I wasn't thinking about ice-crystals. Good point!!!

But wait. Wouldn't ice-crystal refract more light (like a type of prism effect) thus radiating more light?
(ah, I should've paid more attention in High School )

reply to post by Human_Alien


Yes they would reflect, but obstruct the clear path way the photon are traveling on and causeing the light to be a littlt distorted. As oppose to no ice crystals at all. Shine flash light in dark room the light has claer path of travel. Shine same light in same room through prizim the light direction has been changed causing less photon emission to be seen or dimmer light after prizim filter.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Human_Alien

 

I think this change might be from the Earth's Axis Wobble. Astronomers could explain better than me, but as the axis tilts closer to the sun, perhaps it allows more light to the North Pole during winter. With everything centered around 2012, maybe that is the date that the axis is most tilted toward the sun and then will slowly work farther away?

You would think the Inuits would have some mythology or history similar to Mayans and Native Americans that would recount this occurence in their history.

That's what I think, something about the earth's tilt. I'm not very high up, only 53rd parallel, but I've noticed too that when I look to the north at night, it's not dark. It's much lighter in that direction than if I look south.

I also think the earth tilt might be what's causing Venus to look larger than I've ever seen before. It's very large and yellow in the morning sky, it used to look blue, and much smaller. I guess that could be something to do with atmospheric conditions too though

reply to post by snowspirit


Find a globe, put a flashlight on one side of it. Put your finger on the northern hemisphere on the dark side if the globe. THAT's why it's brighter when you look north. =) Get up high enough and your darkest night becomes dusk/twilight over the northern horizon, especially in the northern summer.

Originally posted by an0maly33
reply to post by snowspirit

 

Find a globe, put a flashlight on one side of it. Put your finger on the northern hemisphere on the dark side if the globe. THAT's why it's brighter when you look north. =) Get up high enough and your darkest night becomes dusk/twilight over the northern horizon, especially in the northern summer.

edit on 29-12-2010 by an0maly33 because: (no reason given)

Yeah, you're right. In school (long time ago), they always told us the arctic was light all summer and dark all winter, but it seems it's always a little lighter at the poles. In the summer here, looking north, it's like sunrise at 2 a.m. In the winter, a little darker, but still lighter than here.

I'm coming across more and more things from school, that were not taught very well. I used to live a little further south, so I wasn't witness to how light it really is up there in the arctic.

It's interesting to know that the people up there are noticing that it's lighter than it used to be though.

Originally posted by Human_Alien
Okay, I admit I am not a scientist but how would global warming produce light????

It's not producing light, it's just bending it.

This is the same reason why you see a mirage coming off the pavement on a hot day: refraction.

Air has a different index of refraction in different temperatures - and this effect is more and more pronounced when there is a higher contrast between them. Cold air should actually bend light more than warm air, so you can almost think of it as a mirror.

What I think is happening in this case is that because temperatures near the surface are warmer, this creates a bigger contrast between surface temperatures and colder ones further up in the atmosphere. This means that the mirror is stronger and higher in the sky basically. If the mirror is higher in the sky this means the Sun can be lower below the horizon.

So light is bending more and farther North than it normally would be.

Originally posted by mc_squared

Originally posted by Human_Alien
Okay, I admit I am not a scientist but how would global warming produce light????

It's not producing light, it's just bending it.

This is the same reason why you see a mirage coming off the pavement on a hot day: refraction.

Air has a different index of refraction in different temperatures - and this effect is more and more pronounced when there is a higher contrast between them. Cold air should actually bend light more than warm air, so you can almost think of it as a mirror.

What I think is happening in this case is that because temperatures near the surface are warmer, this creates a bigger contrast between surface temperatures and colder ones further up in the atmosphere. This means that the mirror is stronger and higher in the sky basically. If the mirror is higher in the sky this means the Sun can be lower below the horizon.

So light is bending more and farther North than it normally would be.

I love being surrounded by smart people. You make the rest of us look good!

Thanks for your explanation. Makes sense. It's bending the Light not producing more if it. Interesting.
(But may/can I still think the Earth might be ready for a polar-flip though? )

reply to post by Human_Alien

 

I dunno. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think the Earth is getting ready for a (physical) pole shift!

Conspiracy theorist! lol

Nah,
I agree with you.
I also think Earth is getting ready to shift Her poles, physically.

and I was surprised to learn,
that 4 of my mates from the observatory (not conspiracy theorists), also feel the same!

Usually they just chuckle and let me know how "weird" I am..
So I was definitely surprised by their agreement! lol

Out of about 10 guys or so..
4 of them felt the same as you and I.

The others didnt seem to care much. lol

Earth,
I say bring it!
I am ready..

reply to post by Ahmose


You and I know that but if anyone thinks against the norm (to conspire) they are deemed a conspiracy theorist.
The norm (you know, Bill O'Reilly, Stewie Griffin, Oprah Winfrey, Dog The Bounty Hunter) doesn't think the planet is going to flip.

I (we) beg to differ. So Conspiracy Theorists we are.

I think its best to embrace this title (although the connotation is less than positive) because pretty soon we're going to be upgraded to "home-spun terrorists" instead.

Ongoing discussion...
here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thread closed.