Northern Lights – Let There Be Light!


Grüne Polarlichter über Eisbergen in der Gletscherlagune Jökulsárlón

After all the waiting outside in the dark, on New Year’s night it finally paid off – our first northern lights, at the beautiful Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon! It looked as if painted. At first the northern lights were only visible as white clouds, then the dancing of the light grew stronger and stronger. Suddenly a band of light built up above our heads from horizon to horizon and glowed greener and greener. There was even red aurora – we were really lucky. The glow appears when charged particles from the sun hit oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere; the rarer red comes from oxygen just like the green, only from even higher up. Later it clouded over more and more, but there was still time for a few beautiful moments on the Jökulsárlón beach with the stranded chunks of ice. Choosing was hard: almost 400 pictures were taken that night, until two in the morning. Here is a “small” selection!

Green northern lights reflected with the icebergs in the Jökulsárlón
New Year's night at Jökulsárlón: green aurora reflected between the icebergs.
Aurora in green and pink over the icebergs of the glacier lagoon
Green and pink above the icebergs – even red aurora.
Aurora and stars over the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon
Aurora and stars above the glacier lagoon.
Bands of aurora over a large iceberg in the Jökulsárlón
Bands of light above a large iceberg.
Bright green aurora over an iceberg in the glacier lagoon
Bright green light above an iceberg in the lagoon.
Northern lights in green and violet over the Jökulsárlón
Green and violet dancing above Jökulsárlón.
Aurora over chunks of ice on the black beach by the Jökulsárlón
Aurora above chunks of ice on the black beach.
Aurora over a chunk of ice on the beach at night
A chunk of ice on the beach beneath the green sky.
Green northern lights over the icebergs of the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon
A ribbon of light from horizon to horizon above the icebergs.

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