"Midnight Sun" north of the Arctic Circle at Lake Galbraith, Alaska

Описание: We "Lower 48'ers" get so accustomed to the sun rising in the east and setting in the west that it is difficult to imagine a place where the sun doesn't set - - where it just circles the horizon each day arriving back where it started 24 hours later. This is what happens on the arctic circle on the summer solstice (we'll leave the unthinkable darkness and cold of the winter solstice to one who has actually experienced it.)

We decided, however, not to stop at the arctic circle but to continue up the Haul Road (or Dalton Highway) to a rustic campground adjacent Galbraith Lake - - about 2 degrees latitude north of the arctic circle. Here the sun last rose on May 23rd and will not set again until July 20th. During this one long-day, as noted, the sun merely circles the horizon - - rising each day in the south to a maximum elevation of approximately 45 degrees (on the solstice) but more importantly, never dipping below the northern horizon at midnight. The "dip" of the sun toward the northern horizon lessens each day until the solstice where, at this location, the minimum elevation of the sun is 2 degrees above the northern horizon.

A word about "Midnight". The so-called "Midnight Sun" - - when the sun reaches it's lowest point - - does not occur at midnight but, here, about 2 am when the sun can be seen crossed from the west, through true north, back to the east to start another of its daily circumrotations. Principal causes for this are 1) Daylight Savings Time; and, 2) in 1983 Alaska combined 3 of its 4 time zones to form a single time zone (now known as Alaska Standard Time) which, effectively, moved Galbraith Lake another hour east. Thus to celebrate the true Midnight Sun, you must stay awake until 2am.

The videos of this posting were taken at 2am following "The Solstice" - - the precise point when the sun reversed its northbound trek and commenced its six month dive for more southern latitudes (ultimately, on the Winter Solstice, reaching the southern hemisphere's "Tropic of Capricorn") - - today's reversal occurring about 1pm local (Alaska) time earlier today (ahh, yesterday).