The Midnight Sun

Hello, fellow steemians! It’s time for your day’s dose of sciencepirin. In this article, I would be writing about the Midnight Sun. This probably sounds familiar to those who watch movies. But I am not referring to that “...romantic tearjerker about 17-year-old Katie Price...” _Wikipedia. No, far from it. What I would be writing on is quite different.

We all witness the sunrise and sunset in our various locations. This happens every day. As long as the earth still rotates about its axis, we would always see the sun rise and set. By “we”, I mean most of us. What if I told you some areas have twenty-four hours of sunlight? This means that the residents of these areas would not witness the sunset. Sounds incredible right? Let me explain.

The earth revolves around the sun in a straight orbital plane. It also rotates about its axis which is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. It rotates on its axis once every day, taking 24 hours to do so.

_{Earth orbiting the sun. By Tfr00. - Wikipedia Creative Commons Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.}

During the earth’s revolution around the sun, the period when the southern hemisphere of the earth is at its maximum inclination towards the sun is called the Winter solstice. After about six months, the earth’s position changes and the northern hemisphere is now maximally inclined towards the sun to give the Summer solstice.

The midnight sun is experienced by those who live in the regions between the poles and the polar circles. The polar circles can be located at about 66.5 degrees of latitude north and south of the equator. At the north of the equator is the Arctic circle, with the Antarctic circle being at the south of the equator.

The position of the polar circles isn’t fixed. It can be calculated by drawing a line through the earth, perpendicular to the earth’s orbital plane. The equator is at 0 degrees of latitude on the earth. While at the north and south pole, it's 90 degrees of latitude.

If circles are drawn where the perpendicular line drawn meets the earth’s surface, we would have the location of the polar circles. Usually, this is about 66.5 degrees of latitude north and south of the equator.

_{Locating the Arctic circle. By Peter Mercator - Wikipedia CC0 Creative Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license}

So how does this explain why the sun doesn’t set in those areas? Read on. The earth rotates with its axis tilted. When the sun shines on the earth, the sunlight is received by the half of the earth directly facing it. Because of the earth’s tilt, this half covers more than the geographical half of the earth based on its axis. The sun's rays get to the other part of the Arctic circle (assuming it’s the Summer solstice).

So when the earth rotates about its axis, the Arctic circle rotates without being outside the sun’s rays. On earth, this would be seen as the earth changing positions in the sky without it setting. You can check out this video to watch how this happens.

This only happens for a while, as the earth revolves around the sun. So during the December solstice, it would be the turn of the Antarctic circle to witness the midnight sun. While the arctic circle witnesses the polar nights, which is the opposite of the midnight sun where the sun doesn’t rise at all for a certain period.

LIFE DURING THE MIDNIGHT SUN

So what’s it like living in a place with no sunset? I have never experienced such before(I would surely love to). I live somewhere along the equator, where the weather is relatively moderate. But I have made research on what that is like. The midnight sun or ‘white night’ as it is sometimes called, affects the lives of those who experience it in various ways.

_{Midnight sun in Norway - Pixabay CC0 Creative Commons}

SLEEP

The most obvious consequence of the sun shining throughout the day is that it affects the circadian rhythm of people living in such areas. Darkness plays a very large role in cueing us to sleep. The brain structure responsible for regulating our circadian rhythm is located at the intersection of our optic nerves.

When light reaches our eyes and optic nerves while sleeping, signals are sent to the brain to begin the processes that cause us to wake up. When it gets darker and nighttime approaches, our brains also causes the sleep-inducing hormone - melatonin to be produced.

This means that during the midnight sun, it becomes very hard to go to bed. People can sometimes be found still working without realizing that the time has been far spent. Here is a recount of someone who went there on vacation.

“Our body clocks were definitely in shock; it felt like a strange form of jet-lag, as our bodies and minds only really felt tired in the early mornings, and most nights we’d go to bed at around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.”_{Huffingpost.com}

The solution that natives of such regions came up with it, is to block out the light coming through the window with window blinds or black clothing. Some resort to using sleep masks to go to bed.

MORE TIME

On the flip side, there’s more time(kind of) to do the things you love. People sometimes go out for a stroll as late as 12 am at midnight. It’s not uncommon to find children still playing at such time. There is hardly any danger as it is still quite bright at such times. Some of the inhabitants of these regions work well past into the midnight and only sleep when they feel tired.

COUNTRIES THAT EXPERIENCE THE MIDNIGHT SUN

The midnight sun is experienced by the area between the polar circles and the poles.

In the Antarctic circle, Antarctica - the continent - lies therein, although it is mostly uninhabited, except for the few researchers who reside there.

In the Arctic region, there are quite a number of countries or parts of countries in it. Countries crossed by the Arctic circle include Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Russia and the United States(Alaska).

Some of the best places to experience the midnight sun are:

• Svalbard, Norway from mid-April to mid-August
• Lofoten Islands, Norway from late May to mid-July
• Uummannaq, Greenland from mid-May to end of July
• Grimsey Island from June to July
• Inuvik, Canada from mid-May to Mid-July

If any of you guys are planning to go on a visit to these places, do not forget to take me along!

That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing. See you again soon. Ha det!(Goodbye in Norwegian)

REFERENCES

• Earth's Tilt 2: Land of the Midnight Sun
• Midnight Sun - Wikipedia
• What is the Midnight Sun?
• Where to find the midnight sun
• Life in the Land of the Midnight Sun

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