Something magical about Norway

Believe it or not, the latitude, the local species and the rocks create magical happenings.

1-Fata Morganas: The photo number 1 shows a Fata Morgana observed near Brasvelbreen Svalbard. The Fata Morgana is a superior mirage featuring the characteristics of vertical magnification and exaggeration. This attention-getting display lasted for several hours. It was viewed from about 4 m above sea level. The wind was calm and the air temperature was 6 C. Ice-strewn seas cooled the air in contact with it, forming a temperature inversion; a colder air layer beneath warmer air. When such atmospheric conditions are encountered, upward moving light rays from distant objects are refracted downwards by the different density air layers. To our eyes, the miraged object appears to be floating in the air. The direction of refraction is to curve rays towards denser, colder, air.

2-Psylocibin mushrooms: typical symptoms include visual distortions of color, depth and form, progressing to visual hallucinations. They can be found all over Norway.

3-Sunstones: the sunstone is a mineral (cordierite or Iceland spar) that polarises light and by which the azimuth of the sun can be determined in a partly overcast sky or when the sun is just below the horizon. The principle is used by many animals and polar flights applied the idea before more advanced techniques became available. The sunstone is considered to have aided navigation in the open sea in the Viking period.

4- Aurora borealis: The Aurora is an incredible light show caused by collisions between electrically charged particles released from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere and collide with gases such as oxygen and nitrogen. The lights are seen around the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.Read more