Mon 23 Feb 2009
Northern lights are quietest in decades
Posted by dad under Alaska Hanscoms, News
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By Tim Mowry
Published Monday, February 23, 2009
The Associated Press
Photo by Sam Harrel
FAIRBANKS — Ester photographer LeRoy Zimmerman made the switch to digital cameras this year to better capture the phenomenon known as the aurora borealis.
Now he just needs some aurora to work with.
“There’s nothing; it’s really disappointing,” Zimmerman said. “I’ve got my digital camera. I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Zimmerman isn’t the only one wondering where the aurora borealis, commonly referred to as northern lights, are this winter. The Interior’s normal wintertime light show has been noticeably absent this winter.
“I talk to people in town and everybody who knows what I do asks me, ‘Where is the aurora? What’s happening?’” said Dirk Lummerzheim, a research professor who studies the aurora borealis for the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
It’s a legitimate question, and Lummerzheim has the answer.
“We are at the solar minimum,” the UAF professor said. “When solar activity dies down like this, the aurora activity also diminishes in the north.”