As midwinter's day draws closer and the days continue to shorten, when the sun does decide to show itself we are treated to some of the most breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. They seem to go on for hours.
With the 24 hours of daylight in summer now just a memory, the sun now spends barely five hours above the horizon. It rises just before 10am above the plateau and dips below the frozen sea not long after 3pm. Soon enough it will barely grace us with its presence at all.
During the coming and going of the sun we get to experience weather phenomena such as sun pillars, a vertical beam of light tracking up from the sun, and sun dogs flanking on each side. We currently lose approximately eight minutes of daylight per day to the darkness, but with the ever-present possibility of a night-time aurora, it’s not such a bad trade off!
- Haydn (Casey winter carpenter).
