Students On Ice August 2nd Sea Day

August 20, 2009 in Uncategorized

August 2nd

Sea Day! We spent the day at sea, as we were not able to get in to the opening to Cumberland Sound the way that we had hoped to, so we had to sail further north to the north tip of the opening to the sound in order to find a gap in the ice. Looking at the ice charts tonight, it appears that the ice is socked in solid up the coast, so that we are likely going to be changing the itinerary and not going to be able to go to Clyde River.

There were a lot of presentations today with lots of kids doing all kinds of things, music, art, & writing. There were also presentations on arctic sovereignty that was very amazing.

The amazing sunset that ended the day was the highlight for me. The way the sun morphed as it got closer to the horizon was sensational. The bottom of the sun, started to bend and squeeze as it got low, then it seemed to start to split into pieces as the refraction got more and more pronounced. I kept snapping pictures as this all progressed. The sun moved faster along the horizon than it did down, so the result was that it seemed to dip behind hills in succession as it moved towards the east. As luck would have it, there was a gap in the hills that the sun finally seemed to settle into, and the horizon was right at the level of the sea. As it got closer, I started to watch the top parts of the sun separate like the bottom part had done, As it did this, I started to realize that I might be about to see something that I’ve read about and seen pictures about and wanted to see my whole life. So I kept my eye glued to the camera viewfinder and waited. As soon as it seemed to being, I started snapping pictures, in the hope that what I thought was happening actually was. The top bit of the sun split off, started to disappear, and right at the end, took on a distinct green colour. Then the yellow squeezed out, and the remaining pieces were only green. The Green Flash. Something that most people have never seen, and many people think doesn’t exist. I’ve seen pics of the flash in astronomy magazines, and now I have some of my own. I have about 5 pictures of varying quality that show without question the green colour hanging over the line of red setting sun.

Amazing. I was so stoked, and excited, that I could hardly sit still. This was something that I can’t express how cool it is.