Northern Lights
Watching the night sky can reward viewers with a shimmering display of the northern lights that transforms the night sky into spectacular colours of green, red and yellow. The Aurora Borealis can occur almost any day or night but it is most visible on cool, clear nights. The closest that the lights come to about 65 kilometres above the earth although sometimes they feel like they come right down to the ground.
Inuit stories tell of the lights being torches that are used by new spirits making their way up to heaven or of ancestral spirits running across the snow. Belief in the goodness of the lights will vary with different Inuit cultures believing them to be sometimes good and sometimes evil.
Scientists early on believed them to be either sunlight leaking around the edge of the world or sunlight reflecting off the polar ice pack. Now it is know that the lights are caused by a 100 kilometres an hour, powerful stream of electrically charged particles of the solar wind from the sun reflecting off the ionosphere. The solar wind travels at supersonic speed to earth and creates the gigantic electrical force that produces 10 million megawatts of power. The magnetic force of the south and north poles draw these particles closer to earth where they have more of a chance to collide with atmospheric gasses. Once the gasses are energized, the glow of the aurora is generated.
Each gas creates a different colour. Hydrogen molecules emit the reds; hydrogen atoms the green; oxygen atoms produce pale yellow and green; and, nitrogen shows pink or purplish light. The best place to see these lights is in the northern aurora oval which encompasses much of the Yukon and southern Northwest Territories. Odds to see the lights in these regions are almost two nights in every three.
Two misconceptions exist. Weather is not affected by the northern lights and no matter what people say, they make no noise. This is hotly disputed by people who claim they have heard them crackle! It is possible that trees emit small sparks as they are affected by the electrical field. These effects can be noticed during magnetic storms that distort radio transmissions, television reception, telephones and even might activate a garage door. The electrical charges can cause electric blackouts or surges.
Whatever the thinking is behind the northern lights, they are still a miracle of nature that never cease to cause us all to stand with jaws dropped making appreciative sounds as the lights dance on our souls.
Featured Adventures
- Tischu River
Our exploratory trip on the Tischu River, a tributary of the Keele River
News & Events
- Fall Newsletter November 2011
We have just posted our 2012 Expedition Program and you will see that we have offered two new winter trips including an ice-road adventure to Norman Wells! We are very excited to be offering a Coppermine River Adventure – this was my first ever arctic canoe trip when I was just 18 years old! Other [...]
- Celebrate Sahtu
On July 23rd, The Town of Norman Wells, North-Wright Airways and Canoe North Adventures will host a celebration that will showcase the wilderness of the Sahtu Region and recognize the collaboration of effort to brand the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories as a tourism destination with national and international recognition. This event will highlight the [...]
- Great Bear River Exploration
This past summer, Lin Ward, Susan Casson, Matt Casson and Karl Schiefer checked out the Great Bear River. North-Wright Airways flew them into the First Nation community of Deline on Great Bear Lake. Once canoes were loaded they only paddled a short distance out to a camp right on Great Bear Lake. Karl and Matt [...]
- The 2010 Operator of the Year Award for the Northwest Territories
The award was presented to Al and Lin by the Minister of Tourism at the Northwest Territories Tourism Gala Dinner held in Inuvik on Thursday, November 25th…
- Our Outfitting Centre
It has been a long-standing dream of Canoe North Adventures …
- The Redstone River Exploratory Expedition
The Redstone River is unique in that…
- Canol Heritage Trail Exploratory Hike, 2009
At Canoe North, we are always intrigued with the prospect of a grand adventure…
- Ice Road
The trip took eight days and the last two days …
- Exploratory Trips
In 2009, we are planning two more exploratory trips…
- New Air Services and Canoeing Base for CNA, 2009
at the North-Wright Airways float base in Norman Wells…
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