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Arctic Summer in Iceland: Epic Landscapes & Waterfalls under Midnight Sun

Shashin

Shashin

Well-known member
Except for the island of Grimsey, Iceland is below the Arctic Circle and so has no "midnight" sun. It also limits your timing somewhat...
 
S

subrata1965

Member
Shashin said:
Except for the island of Grimsey, Iceland is below the Arctic Circle and so has no "midnight" sun. It also limits your timing somewhat...
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That is in theory. Yes, Iceland is below official Arctic Circle, however exceptions happens there. You get both Northern Light in Winter as well as Midnight Sun in late spring / early Summer.

Please check this for Reykjavik and select the month June. If you go North like, Akureyri you get in early July too.
 
Shashin

Shashin

Well-known member
The "midnight sun" is a reference to the sun never setting for a 24-hour period, which can only happen above the Arctic Circle or below the Antarctic Circle. If you look at your time table, you will see the sun does set. And an accident of the time zone makes it at 12 local time. I guess if you see a sun at 12 midnight, that is a midnight sun, but then I could just change my watch by 12 hours and see a midnight sun every day. But that is a bit of a fudge.

The Northern lights is something completely different. We can see the Northern lights as far South as Maine. It really has no baring on the Arctic Circle. Naturally, places like Iceland are a great place to view the Northern lights.
 
S

subrata1965

Member
Shashin said:
The "midnight sun" is a reference to the sun never setting for a 24-hour period, which can only happen above the Arctic Circle or below the Antarctic Circle. If you look at your time table, you will see the sun does set. And an accident of the time zone makes it at 12 local time. I guess if you see a sun at 12 midnight, that is a midnight sun, but then I could just change my watch by 12 hours and see a midnight sun every day. But that is a bit of a fudge.

The Northern lights is something completely different. We can see the Northern lights as far South as Maine. It really has no baring on the Arctic Circle. Naturally, places like Iceland are a great place to view the Northern lights.
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What you are missing is "Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night". I'm looking for that prolonged sunset light that stays for 6 hrs on a good weather. Photographers goes out at 9:30 PM and continue photographing until 3:30 AM in the morning.

"Due to atmospheric refraction and also because the sun is a disk rather than a point, the midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly below the polar circle, though not exceeding one degree (depending on local conditions). For example, Iceland is known for its midnight sun, even though most of it (Grímsey being a notable exception) is slightly south of the Arctic Circle. The same mechanisms cause the period of sunlight at the poles to last slightly more than six months. Even the northern extremities of Scotland (and those places on similar latitudes such as St. Petersburg) experience a permanent twilight in the northern sky at these times." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_sun]

Check this out as well: Midnight Sun | Iceland on Vimeo

And this... Midnight sun photography in Iceland - Iceland Photo Tours
 
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Shashin

Shashin

Well-known member
subrata1965 said:
What you are missing is "Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night". I'm looking for that prolonged sunset light that stays for 6 hrs on a good weather. Photographers goes out at 9:30 PM and continue photographing until 3:30 AM in the morning.

"Due to atmospheric refraction and also because the sun is a disk rather than a point, the midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly below the polar circle, though not exceeding one degree (depending on local conditions). For example, Iceland is known for its midnight sun, even though most of it (Grímsey being a notable exception) is slightly south of the Arctic Circle. The same mechanisms cause the period of sunlight at the poles to last slightly more than six months. Even the northern extremities of Scotland (and those places on similar latitudes such as St. Petersburg) experience a permanent twilight in the northern sky at these times." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_sun]

Check this out as well: Midnight Sun | Iceland on Vimeo

And this... Midnight sun photography in Iceland - Iceland Photo Tours
Click to expand...
A "permanent state of sunset" is not exactly the same as the sun never setting. So, what you are saying is while the sun does actually set, and the video clearly showed the sun went below the horizon, there is enough light to photograph. Well, naturally. The sky does not go black as soon as the sun goes over the horizon, which is why many photographers continue to shoot sunsets after the sun has set.

Naturally, Iceland would not have a sun at "midnight" if it did not also have daylight savings time. I guess the midnight sun is a modern phenomena.

Hey, if Iceland's tourist board can sell plane tickets and hotel rooms, who I am to judge? People still think the new millennium started in 2000.
 
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