The Northern Lights — Aurora Borealis In Iceland
Aurora Borealis is named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of Dawn, and Boreas, the Greek name for North Winds. On clear and clear winter nights in Iceland, you can magically experience dancing in the northern lights in the sky.
The Northern Lights
Watching this beautiful light show with different colors dancing and transforming before your eyes is nothing short of amazing and each show is completely unique. Some say it is an event that changes life. The Northern Lights are one of the biggest attractions for visiting Iceland in the winter, and the bad thing is that it is a natural phenomenon and therefore inaccessible and unpredictable.
Iceland is your winter wonderland where you can experience snowfall in every corner, sunrise and sunset, which reflects the pink and orange color of the sky and lion fields with terrain covered with a blanket of snow. Seeing the northern lights will be cherries over your winter path, a bonus to an otherwise amazing adventure with strange experiences.
— The Best Time Of The Year —
Darkness is required. Iceland is in great latitude, which means that there is no darkness from mid-April to mid-August. During this time period, the northern lights cannot be detected.
The Aurora Borealis season is from late August to mid-April. However, from the end of September to the end of March, it is dark after 6 pm, and one has the maximum opportunities. Annually, the lights are peaking in September and March. The reasons for this trend are due to moderation in March and September.
As a natural phenomenon, it is difficult to predict the appearance of the Northern Lights before more than two hours before it occurs. Much depends on solar activity, and while we can estimate how many sunspots can appear in the sun, we can expect exactly when it will happen or how often.
The Best Time Of Day
First of all, to see the northern lights, the sky should be dark. This immediately excludes daylight hours, and contrary to popular belief, it is not dark black in the Aurora region throughout the winter.
Indeed, although the sun does not appear above the horizon, until the shortest day, December 21, it holds three to four hours of gray / blue light, making the northern lights invisible to the naked eye.
Once it gets dark, Aurora can be seen at any time of the day, but it looks like the best time is around 9:30 PM until 1 AM, at which point we will focus most of the searches.
11-Year Course
In the long run, auroral displays are associated with an 11-year cycle of solar activity and other sun disturbances; The more anxiety about the sun, the more twilight. 2006-7 corresponds to the minimum in solar activity, and in 2013 the maximum sun was recorded.
We're now on the decline in activity, and according to the 11-year cycle, the next cap will happen in 2024 with frequent displays of northern lights maybe two or three years later. Although we are in a state of deterioration right now,
This does not mean that there are no Aurora screens, it means that they are less, slightly further, and not very strong. In Iceland, we are still seeing some stunning views of the Aurora Borealis.
Solar storms
In addition to these more or less regular variations in twilight frequency, there are also less predictable and unexpected screens due to solar storms.
Some of these, especially near most sunny activity, can lead to an incredibly arctic aurora seeing to the south if you are in an area with a transparent and transparent night sky.
The "Signals" section below will help you stay up to date with the latest solar activities and prepare to watch when a solar storm occurs.
