Northern Lights in Iceland

Observing the northern lights is reliably unreliable. The forecast said they would appear one night when we were in Denali National Park in the fall a few years ago. I went out at 0300 to see them. None made an appearance. They are occasionally reported to appear in northern Whatcom County, where I lived for a few years in Bellingham. I never saw them there. In 1976 I went to Fairbanks, AK in the middle of winter and didn't see them. 

In my case, at least, they are elusive, so one of the main reasons I joined this trip was to finally see those elusive lights. 

We were scheduled to go out last night, but the tour was cancelled. They didn't say why but I suspect it was because of the cloud cover. Today we only twice had a glimpse of the sun through the clouds, low in the southwestern sky. Tonight as we walked to and from the restaurant, it snowed on us, and parked cars had an inch or two of accumulated snow. It looked grim, but they didn't cancel the tour so we crossed our fingers 

We finished today's Golden Circle tour around 1700. A half hour later walked to another restaurant where I had herring three ways as an appetizer. There was herring in a good pickle, in a mild mustard sauce, and in a cross between a chili sauce and cocktail sauce. If I were to rank them, I'd choose the pickle first followed by the chili and then the mustard. 

For the entrée I had a traditional Icelandic dish of hashed Cod. It was good--boiled cod that was pulled apart, combined with pre-cooked onion and potato cubed small, and all blended with a white sauce into a medium loaf, topped with a cheese sauce and quickly broiled. 

After that meal I felt ready to pursue those northern lights like a true son of Iceland. 

Back at the hotel we grabbed our heavy coats and backpacks and started out. We took a city bus shuttle to the main station and boarded a tour bus. The mic didn't work on this one so, after 20 minutes our so, we changed to another bus and finally got started. Not an auspicious start. 

We motored into the countryside onto a narrow snow-covered road.

To forestall questions, I don't know what that cutout on the dash was that looks like a shadow on the road. 

After a few kilometers on this road we turned off onto an even smaller road and then into a parking area where I saw three or four other buses. 

Well, here we were. The sky had clouds to the east, over city lights that made observing that way impossible. I could see the stars above and to the north and west with only a few wispy clouds. The temperature was below freezing with a breeze from the southeast. Oh, and there was around eight inches of snow on the ground. I was glad I wore my heavy boots and wool socks. 

Yesterday, I checked the northern light forecast. On a scale of ten, the forecast was a 3 or 4 for every day this week, but our guide said that what looked to the naked eye to be a strip of clouds to the NW, was the northern lights, so I set about trying to get photographs.

Trying to figure out the best settings in the dark while trying to hold the camera still. 

My old phone crashed and I bought a new one at Costco a month or so ago. Still haven't used the camera function much so was feeling my way along. There is a "night" option so tried that. It was a time exposure of about three seconds. When I pushed the shutter button, a message appeared on the screen, "hold camera still" and I tried to obey even though I had to remove my gloves and my fingers quickly chilled in that cold (did I say breeze?) wind. 

I couldn't check the results until we were on the bus headed back to the hotel. The photos below are just as they came out. I haven't yet tried to edit them. The lights at the bottom of some are other people's screens, or snow illuminated by those screens. Or in one case, a flash from someone who was trying to use flash to enhance photos of the northern lights. Or maybe just didn't know how to turn it off. 

I think it's pretty amazing technology. I had no tripod and I'm sure, despite that warning, I wasn't able to hold the camera still. Yet, the lights are clear and even the stars are clear. I was shocked that the software was able to compensate and produce such a clear image. 

On a whim, I tried one photo of constellation Orion. It also came out clear.

I'll have to experiment more with this technology. 

On a side note, I found the big dipper and from there Polaris, almost directly overhead. Reykjavik is located at 64.147 degrees latitude, a little south of Fairbanks, AK (64.838), and South of the Arctic Circle (66.30). Looking at the North Star, I could believe Iceland is in the far north.

Before we left the viewing spot, I noticed this entrepreneur making a buck, or rather, a Krona, from some cold souls in the viewing area. 

We got back to our hotel about 0100. I quickly shed boots and heavy clothing and crawled into bed for some sleep before breakfast.