Even the northern extremities of the United Kingdom (and places at similar latitudes, such as Saint Petersburg) experience twilight throughout the night in the northern sky at around the summer solstice. For the same reasons, the period of sunlight at the poles is slightly longer than six months. For example, Iceland is known for its midnight sun, even though most of it ( Grímsey is the exception) is slightly south of the Arctic Circle. The North Pole has midnight sun for 6 months from late March to late September.īecause of atmospheric refraction, and also because the Sun is a disc rather than a point in the sky, midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly south of the Arctic Circle or north of the Antarctic Circle, though not exceeding one degree (depending on local conditions). The extreme sites are the poles, where the Sun can be continuously visible for half the year.

In Svalbard, Norway, the northernmost inhabited region of Europe, there is no sunset from approximately 19 April to 23 August.

The largest city of the world north of the Arctic Circle, Murmansk (Russia), experiences midnight sun from 22 May to 22 July (62 days).Ī quarter of Finland's territory lies north of the Arctic Circle, and at the country's northernmost point the Sun does not set at all for 72 days during summer. Timelapse video of Lapland's midnight sun in Rovaniemi, Finlandīecause there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, apart from research stations, the countries and territories whose populations experience midnight sun are limited to those crossed by polar circles: Canada ( Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories), United States (state of Alaska) the nations of Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, and Russia.

Midnight sun chapters 13 24 rough draft