The midnight sun, a few photos of the midnight sun Options

[Tom_Crumrine]

19? June 2005 The midnight sun

Last night there was a party. Yes, scientists have parties too. I wanted to make sure that I would be awake for it so I laid down for a nap at 8pm. When I awoke at 2 am things had pretty much wrapped up. Maybe next week. Since I was well rested in the middle of the night it did give me the chance to go out and photograph the midnight sun.

Because of daylight savings time combined with Alaska time, polar midnight is actually at 2:00. This means that Alaska is actually probably 2 hours off of where it shoulc be in terms of time. With constant light thought it doesn't really matter as long as everyone is agreed on some time. At some point in history it was decided to make Alaska have a time closer to that of the western US. This does make things a little easier and it helps for the time to not be so disconnected from the lower 48.



This picture shows the midnight sun rising over the north end of Toolik Lake.



In this one you can see the compass pointing north and the watch showing 2:30 Alaska time which is 12:30 polar time. So I was a little off with the actual midnight sun but I can assure you that the sun did not just appear in this position--it was there 1/2 and hour before too.



This last one again shows the compass pointing north and the sun at the north end of Toolik Lake. I know for people who have been in the arctic for a long time some of the things I have shown are common place events, but I have really been enjoying my first time in seeing them. I hope that the few who are reading these posts are enjoying the pictures of them.

Have a good day--pictures of the hike in Atigun Pass will be waiting for you when you wake up tomorrow.