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The 'midnight sun' is a phenomenon occurring in latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours, mostly north of the Arctic circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. The number of days per year with potential midnight sun increases the further poleward one goes.
Since there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, the countries and territories whose population experiences it are limited to the ones crossed by the Arctic Circle, i.e. Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and extremities of Iceland. A quarter of Finland's territory lies north of the Arctic Circle and at the country's northernmost point the sun does not set for 73 days during summer. In Svalbard, Norway, the northernmost inhabited region of Europe, there is no sunset from approximately April 19th to August 23rd. The extreme sites are the poles where the sun can be continuously visible for a half year.
The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.
Since the Earth's axis is tilted with respect to the ecliptic by approximately 23 degrees 27 minutes, the sun does not set at high latitudes in (local) summer. The duration of the midnight sun increases from one day during the summer solstice at the polar circle to approximately six months at the poles. At extreme latitudes, it is usually referred to as 'polar day'. The length of the time when the sun is above the horizon varies from 20 hours at the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle to 186 days at the poles.
At the poles themselves, the sun only rises once and sets once, each year. During the six months when the sun is above the horizon at the poles, the sun spends the days constantly moving around the horizon, reaching its highest circuit of the sky at the summer solstice.
Due to refraction, the midnight sun may be experienced at latitudes slightly below the polar circle, though not exceeding one degree (depending on local conditions). For example, it is possible to experience the midnight sun in Iceland, even though most of it (Grímsey being a notable exception) is slightly south of the Arctic Circle. Even the northern extremities of the British Isles (and those places on similar latitudes) experience a permanent "dusk" or glare in the northern skies at these times.

Contents

White night

Effect on people

Popular culture

Literature

Film and television

Music

References

See also

White night

Locations above 60 degrees latitude that are south of the Arctic Circle or north of the Antarctic Circle experience midnight civil twilight instead. The sun is at the horizon to 6 degrees below the horizon, so that daytime activities, such as reading, are still possible without artificial light, on the condition it is not cloudy.
White nights have become a common symbol of Saint Petersburg, Russia, where they occur from about 11 June to 11 July, and the last 10 days of June are celebrated with cultural events.

Effect on people

Many find it difficult to fall asleep during the night when the sun is shining. In general, visitors and newcomers are most affected. Some natives are also affected, but in general to a lesser degree. The effect of the polar night, that is, not experiencing day for long durations of time is said to cause "Seasonal Affective Disorder" or S.A.D. a type of depression caused by lack of natural light. High-intensity daylight-spectrum lamps and tanning beds are a popular solution for relief from S.A.D.

Popular culture

★ Midnight Sun is the name of a Multi User Dungeon (MUD) game^[1].

★ In the PC game Battlefield 2, a map in the Armored Fury booster pack is called Midnight Sun and takes place in Alaska during the night.

Literature

★ "Integration Under the Midnight Sun" [1] by Adnan Mahmutovic [2] is a short story about Bosnian refugees in Sweden.

★ "Midnight Sun" is a novel by Ramsey Campbell and also a novel by RC Duggan.

★ "White Nights" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

★ "Midnight Sun" is the name of a yet-to-be completed book in Stephenie Meyer's ''Twilight'' series. It will be a companion to the first novel, "Twilight", only from the point of view of Edward Cullen.

★ Midnight Sun appears in the opening lines - "There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold." - of the famous and striking poem by Robert W. Service (1874-1958) entitled "The Cremation of Sam McGee".

★ Midnight Sun is the name of a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe.

Film and television

★ The movie "Insomnia" tells the story of a fictional police detective in Norway who suffers from insomnia due to, among other things, the midnight sun. A 2002 remake of the film is set in Alaska.

★ "Midnight Sun" is also the name of a Japanese film.

★ "The Midnight Sun" is also the title of a Twilight Zone episode.

★ Most of the plot of the movie "White Nights" takes place during a midnight sun period in Siberia.

★ "Midnight Sun" is the theme and title of an episode from TV-series taking place in Alaska, Northern Exposure, season 4.

Music

★ "Midnight Sun" is a jazz standard by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer

★ "Midnight Sun" is a song by the group The Pines.

★ "Midnight Sun" is a Choirboys song and album released in 1991.

★ "Midnight Sun" is a Helloween song from their 1998' album Better Than Raw, written by Michael Weikath.

★ The lyric "''Where the northern lights are runnin' wild in the land of the midnight sun''" referenced in a popular country song titled "''North to Alaska''" by the 1950s country music singer ''Johnny Horton''.

★ "Midnight Sun" is the title of a hidden track on the album ''Black Sails in the Sunset'' by AFI.

★ "Midnight Sun" is the title of a song on the album April Skies by Deine Lakaien.

★ "Midnight Sunrise" is a song by the Finnish band Turisas.

★ "White Night Fantasy" is a song by Finnish band Nightwish. There is also reference in Ever Dream by Nightwish in the lyric "Your beauty cascaded on me, in this white night fantasy".

★ The midnight sun is also mentioned together with northern lights in a song about Finland, titled The Land of Ice and Snow, by the Finnish Power Metal band Stratovarius.

★ The Stephen Sondheim musical ''A Little Night Music'' takes place during a Swedish white night, and has songs which revolve around this fact.

★ "Follow The Midnight Sun" is the title of a song on the album ''Midnight Sun'' by Maggie Reilly.

★ In Led Zeppelin's 1970 album, Led Zeppelin III, the "Midnight Sun" is referenced in the Immigrant Song "We come from the land of the ice and snow where the midnight sun and the hot springs blow" (in reference to Iceland), even though most of Iceland is below the polar circle.

★ On the Comets on Fire album Blue Cathedral there is a song titled "The Antlers of the Midnight Sun".

★ In The Outfield's song "Say It Isn't So", the song mentions "walking in the Midnight Sun once again".

★ The Electric Light Orchestra hit song Do Ya opens with the singer mentioning "babies dancin' in the midnight sun".

★ Warren Zevon's Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner hailed from the "Land of the Midnight Sun".

★ Al Di Meola's debut jazz-fusion release on Columbia Records in 1976 was also called "Land of the Midnight Sun".

★ Midnight Sun is the name of a Cirque du Soleil performance, that was held in Montreal, Canada in 2004.

★ Midnight Sun is the name of a Swedish heavy metal band. The band features Jonas Reingold of The Flower Kings.

★ Midnattsol (Midnight Sun) is the name of a German/Norwegian heavy metal band fronted by Carmen Elise Espenæs.

★ Midnight Sun is the name of a song on the 1983 Asia_(band) album Alpha_(album).

★ "Land of the Midnight Sun" is a song on Colin Hay's album, Are You Lookin' At Me?.

★ "Midnight Sun" is a song by Finnish freeform hardcore group Re-form.

★ "Midnight Sun" is a song by Japanese metal band Sigh

References

1. http://midnight-sun.ludd.ltu.se:3328/

See also

★ Polar night - The opposite phenomenon experienced in winter: A day without sunrise.

★ Land of the Midnight Sun