Polar night - photos from the brightest hours of the darkest days in Tromsø, Arctic Norway
So we're staying at my mothers place during the yule holidays, up in the arctic north. During two winter months in the winter, the sun doesn't rise above the horizon - and during two summer months, the sun doesn't go below the horizon. In addition there are mountains casting shadows, so in reality the "polar night" lasts a bit longer than the "polar day". As you may know, solstice was between the 21st and 22nd of December this year, so we're now experiencing the darkest days of the year.
Tromsø is not that far north, so there is some twilight every day - the sun is just below the horizon for several hours. It's like just before sunrise or just after sunset. On clear days it can be quite beautiful. The first shot is from when we got from the airport ... solar noon is at 11:42, photo taken 11:58, towards the south.
position: geo:69.678565,18.901441 (geohack) - 2018-12-20 11:58:31 localtime - full quality
Most snow rained away some time ago ... and then it became very cold, so there is not much snow, and the "snow" is more like ice ... very hard. Photo taken 12:21. The brightness of the photos are of course dependent on the camera settings ... or, since I usually just use the "auto"-mode, whatever point I chose to focus on. In general there is enough light to see clearly without artificial light - but the artificial light typically beats daylight.
position: geo:69.644813,18.920431 (geohack) - 2018-12-20 12:21:05 localtime - full quality
Same place, next day. By 09:28 in the morning it's still quite dark, though one can clearly see in what direction the sun is. I believe the photo was taken without flash. It's taken by a camera I got as a birthday gift the day before. Photo is taken towards south ... or, 165.27 degrees if the camera compass is to be trusted.
position: geo:69.644888,18.920361 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 09:28:25 localtime localtime - full quality
The flash accidentally fired off on this one, hence the brightest points on the photo is the reflectors on the man walking down the hill, as well as on the car. There is an ugly, new residental house stealing the view towards the cable car. The iconic church, Ishavskatedralen (Norwegian Wikipedia, Post by @siggjo), is also visible, to the center left.
2018-12-21 10:32:43 localtime localtime - full quality
Another shot towards the south.
position: geo:69.644584,18.932439 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 10:35:30 localtime - full quality
A bit closer to noon - another shot towards the east. The middle mountain is Tromsdalstinden, one of our highest, at 1238 metres above the sea and easily climbable (from the church it takes somewhere between 2.5 hours and 12 hours depending on how fit one is and what route one chooses. I believe 4 hours is more realistic for a relatively fit person choosing the "summer route", during the summer. There has been fatalities due to people trying to follow the "summer route" in the winter time). To the right is Fløya, the building at the left side of Fløya is for the cable car, lifting tourists and lazy locals up from 50 metres to 421 metres. The top of the mountain is 671 metres above the sea.
position: geo:69.653296,18.951578 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 11:33:30 localtime localtime - full quality
View towards south - another new, ugly residental house blocking quite much of the view - but right in front, the red building with the tower, is Kongsbakken gymnasium (though, the word "gymnasium" has been replaced with "advanced school". The "advanced schools" in Norway generally serves pupils above 16, and generally lasts for 3 years, it's a stepping-stone between the mandatory children school and higher education).
position: geo:69.653548,18.95174 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 11:34:50 localtime localtime - full quality
Another photo towards the south. 11:40, very close to the solar noon.
position: geo:69.657745,18.949392 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 11:40:11 localtime - full quality
The lake Prestvannet. Since it has been a period of "big freeze" after the rain, there is good skating conditions now.
position: geo:69.66053,18.936825 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 11:50:18 localtime localtime - full quality
2018-12-21 11:50:52 localtime - full quality
A random photo of some streetlights. I took two photos, the other one is much brighter and is more representative for my experience - but in this darker photo it's very clear to see that the streetlights indeed do shine up a bit, even in the middle of the day, at 12:06.
position: geo:69.670463,18.93157 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 12:06:23 localtime - full quality
An ugly road - but if nothing else, the bridge above it is a good view point.
position: geo:69.672859,18.932865 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 12:10:46 localtime - full quality
position: geo:69.672859,18.932865 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 12:11:16 localtime - full quality
In general, the sea never freezes here - except locally in deep fjords and protected bays. This is a long, narrow artificial bay - the embankment in front is for the leading lights for the airport, it's connected to land in the right end. (it's also visible on the very first photo above, in the very left of the photo)
position: geo:69.66819,18.912172 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 12:49:33 localtime - full quality
position: geo:69.66819,18.912172 (geohack) - 2018-12-21 12:49:38 localtime - full quality
The next day it was mostly overcast, and some hints of snow in the air ... but as I came down to the south end of the island there were some openings towards the south ...
2018-12-22 12:09:06 localtime - full quality
Digital zoom. ~30 minutes after solar noon.
position: geo:69.632553,18.905361 (geohack) - 2018-12-22 12:16:27 localtime - full quality
position: geo:69.628311,18.912237 (geohack) - 2018-12-22 12:25:41 localtime - full quality
Another shot featuring the cable car and Ishavskatedralen. The big cliff to the right of Fjellheisen is called the "big rock" (Storsteinen) - it's easy to visit from the upper station of the cable car, and with fences so one won't fall off the cliff. Sooner or later there will be an avalanche and this rock will destroy whatever is below it and create a local tsunami ...
position: geo:69.639305,18.929765 (geohack) - 2018-12-22 12:50:08 localtime - full quality
position: geo:69.644714,18.93217 (geohack) - 2018-12-22 13:39:18 localtime - full quality
Next day it was snowing. Hurray, we're getting a white christmas! Of course, in such conditions it's impossible to see the direction of the sun ... but around noon it's still relatively bright outside.
position: geo:69.64505,18.920709 (geohack) - 2018-12-23 13:01:04 localtime - full quality
Children out on kicksleights. Nowadays those vehicles are more often than not useless due to all the road gritting, but here in the residential areas after fresh snowfall it still works out.
2018-12-23 13:13:41 localtime - full quality
position: geo:69.63729,18.92349 (geohack) - 2018-12-23 13:25:07 localtime - full quality
Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS Qmc2zPnEzA6YJEPiM6LeVrK9PdnHARTTHrzEYPB3PdEv9b. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS QmamovHyZMiBsNhKWXE4WUCi99E8YVZqJPuFT7ByenfecG. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article
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The second photo is so beautiful!
This is when I say I wish I could live here all the time, till 6 months later when I get depressed because I see either little daylight or little night time everyday. 😊
My wife got pretty much fed up of it in the end, that's why we moved (back) to Oslo. (I was living in Oslo for a while when I met her ... but I did miss Tromsø too much, hence we moved north ...)
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Espectacular pics
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Mate, your posts are always absolutely top notch and the photography beautiful. Thank you.
Hope you had a great birthday and I wish you and your family best wishes and a very happy Christmas.
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It looks so cold and dark compared to our sub-tropics. Really interesting post and your photos are always so good.
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