Arctic Summer Time-Lapse: What It's Like When The Sun Never Sets (VIDEO)

Some things seem so natural that it's hard to imagine a world without them.

Like night and day.

While most of the globe experiences some time away from the sun, there are spots, namely in the Arctic Circle, that experience periods of time where darkness never comes. The video below captures this in a 24-hour time-lapse that almost looks unreal.

The sun seems to just bob in the sky like a ball bouncing across the heavens, briefly seeming to touch a mountain range before climbing back to its climax.

A full day of sunlight may seem cool at first, but we can imagine it's quite maddening and confusing to experience this, or even something close to it. In places like Fairbanks, Alaska the sun doesn't set until after midnight on the vernal equinox, but at least they get some darkness.

We're refraining from making a Sarah Palin joke now. Enjoy the video below!

WATCH:

Untitled from Maxie Max on Vimeo.

Comments

[Cactusman]

02:21 AM on 05/28/2011

Cool video. That took about an entire week to film, because it chronicles at least 6 daily cycles. Maybe 7, I lost count by the end....

[ghostrider57]

07:27 PM on 05/26/2011

I was a little over a min into the video and it had already covered 48 hours. It was not a 24 hour time lapse.

What they forgot to mention is that on the flip side, in the winter, they pretty much never see the sun.

[CaliHoosier]

11:21 AM on 05/26/2011

This is amazing and I LOVE the song! Anyone know the name and artist?

[Theophrastus]

10:57 AM on 05/26/2011

Great song with the video, it fits perfectly.

[nikanj]

10:54 AM on 05/26/2011

Um, I happen to live in Fairbanks and no, we do not have 'darkness'
in the summertime. From about mother's day until the middle of august,
we cannot see any stars. Too much backscatter light. The sky just
glows, it's indescribably beautiful. And not the least bit dark.

[liberalbug]

10:31 AM on 05/26/2011

I'd bbq me some walrus at 3 AM! Cool.

[labman]

10:43 AM on 05/26/2011

HA HA HA !!! Good one. F

[phillyfanyo]

10:06 AM on 05/26/2011

simply amazing

[neogeezer]

09:54 AM on 05/26/2011

I lived in Thule, Greenland from April 1971-December 1972. I have been describing this experience ever since. This captures it perfectly!

[jlm11579]

09:13 AM on 05/26/2011

Now I know why Sarah Palin is so confusing.

[Holly H]

08:33 AM on 05/26/2011

That made me dizzy.

[bridgeman]

08:00 AM on 05/26/2011

Vitamin D overdose

[susankhbelen]

04:17 AM on 05/26/2011

Visited above Arctic Circle. Very hard to keep a sleep cycle. The windows were covered with black out materials too.
Eerie.
Then there was all that mud sucking off your shoes as you walked.....Still was glad to have seen the place. (Salmon at $5 for whole one about 4' long!! Glad the relative knew how to filet the thing though.)

[NateinMpls]

03:18 AM on 05/26/2011

At least they don't have to worry about vampires

[verylargehat]

05:24 AM on 05/26/2011

Not until the winter, anyway.

[alteredstory]

09:38 AM on 05/26/2011

There was a twilight zone episode that took place in Siberia in the winter about vampires.

[nikolasoddfellow]

02:04 AM on 05/26/2011

The Sun/ Psh. Show off. ;-)

[Russ]

01:13 AM on 05/26/2011

"In places like Fairbanks, Alaska the sun doesn't set until after midnight on the vernal equinox." Sorry but the day is exactly 12 hours long on all points of planet earth on the vernal (and autumnal) equinox. You meant the summer solstice. On the equinox, the sun rises due east, and sets due west, everywhere on planet earth. On the summer solstice, at the arctic circle, the sun "sets" exactly at midnight and then "rises" at midnight, due north (or 1 am if you are on daylight savings time). Below the arctic circle, there is night at midnight, above it there isn't(and by "midnight" I mean true solar time, not necessarily the time on the clock).

[VeryGrood]

10:07 AM on 05/26/2011

"Sorry but the day is exactly 12 hours long on all points of planet earth on the vernal (and autumnal) equinox."

Sorry but the equinox is a point in time, not a day. The equilux is the day. ;)