The midnight sun can be encountered north of the Polar Circle. In Ilulissat, for example, the sun never sets from May 25th to July 25th, and during that period "normal" calender time is virtually non-operative.
It is light around the clock. At what used to be nighttime the soft, warm light and the long shadows from the low-hanging sun bring the scenic backdrops into dreamlike and almost supernaturally beautiful relief.
The northern lights are no less impressive. White, yellow, green and red they sweep across the dark sky in a state of eternal, rapid flux. Accummulate in intensity and culminate in scenery beyond imagination.
Northern lights appear all year round in Greenland, but they can only be observed against a clear, dark night sky. They appear at a height of about 100 kilometers (65 miles) and have the shape of a flapping curtain or points radiating from a single dot.
The phenomeon is due to electrically charged particles from the sun entering the earth's athomphere and being conveyed from there by the magnetic field lines. When the particles meet the molecules in the atmosphere, the northern lights arise, their colour being determined by the nature of the molecules.
The US National Science Foundation operates a scientific station near Kangerlussuaq, devoted to the study of northern lights.
