1. Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis
2. Air quality in Lapland
Northern Lights
-when a mythical fox waved its tail…
Is it the wrath of the gods, what the ancient people thought caused the Northern Lights, also known as the "Lappish Lights" or the Aurora Borealis? Or is it a mythical fox waving it´s tail on the hard snow crust, what the ancient Finns believed caused the "Lappish Lights"? The Finnish word "revontulet" means namely the fox's fires.
For this magical shifting and crackling of light in the Lappish night sky there is a scientific explanation, about solar wind, as well. However we prefer the mystical one in Finnish Lapland, where they may be visible on clear nights -thanks to less clouds and nearly no rain in the winter- up to 200 times a year.
Like the sun there is a cycle of 11 years in the activity of the" Lappish Lights". The last peak of occurrence in 2002-2004 was the most active in the research history. The next peak will be in winter 2013-2014. The following film of VisitFinland was shot in Finnish Lapland in 2011.
Please find forecasts and other useful information about Northern Lights here.
The European Union has recently completed an extensive summary report on the state of the environment. The report includes, for example,
a lot of maps that describe air pollutants concentration across Europe. On the maps there is a clear feature in common:
in the northern parts of Scandinavia outdoor air is in accordance with the rule the cleanest in Europe.
Of the maps perhaps the most dramatic of this report is on page 13: Years of life lost (YOLL) across Europe due to small particles.
The air quality section of the report (The European environment - state and outlook 2010. Air pollution.
Published by EEA -European Environment Agency) with more maps and other interesting information can be
found here.
When the air quality in northern parts of Scandinavia is the best in Europe, it is in Lapland still 10 times better than in
southern Finland on average. This is stated in a recent study of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (Sources and Trends of air pollutants
at the Pallas Action 13: Pollution, Transport, Intermediate report 31 Dec 2010, Richard Donohoe, Hannele Hakola, Mika Vestenius,
Timo Ryyppö, Heidi Hellen). The study is based on the measurements by the measurement station at Sammaltunturi in Muonio in 1996-2009.
Ylläs Ski Resort is located only 40 km south of the Sammaltunturi measurement station. Thus the measurements represent well the air quality
in the Äkäslompolo village in Ylläs as well. Please find the current air quality
for the area here
Outdoor air in Lapland cleanest in Europe
Health impact caused by exposure top PM2.5.
Current air quality in Ylläs