Heavens Above

One version of me stands in the bitter cold of Interior Alaska, bundled in layers of wool and puffy insulation, breath swirling around me in a cloud as I stare up at a sky that boils with swirls of aurora in green, pink, purple, and red.

Another version of me lounges in a hammock on the deck of my favorite cruise ship. I’ve brought a book with me, and as I turn the page, I lift my head to gaze at the flat line of water against the horizon. Surely it goes on forever?

I used to think those two versions couldn’t coexist. And yet there is another option, one of the best-kept secrets in cruising: that sometimes, when conditions are just right and Lady Luck is firmly on your side, you can see the northern lights from the deck of a normal cruise ship. No Arctic expedition required. 

Of course, there are a few catches.

Stacking the deck

When you’re lucky with this sort of thing, you’re really lucky. “Peak summer in Alaska typically isn’t dark enough for a display, but last season was spectacular thanks to heightened solar activity,” says Kelly Sutter, senior expedition leader with UnCruise Adventures. 

That’s because we’re at the apex of the 11-year cycle of solar energy that, ultimately, causes the northern lights. Good luck already. But when you’re trawling for northern lights, only a few variables are truly within your control.

The first is location. The northern lights have been visible from the tropics at least once in recorded history: as part of the 1859 Carrington Event, the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded, which hit Earth with such intensity that telegraphs went haywire, sparking their operators and even starting fires. The resulting display of aurora borealis was seen as far south as Cuba and Hawaii while its southern sibling, the aurora australis, was visible much farther north than usual, too.

But in everyday terms, you’re only going to see the northern lights when sailing waters near countries like Iceland, Greenland, and Norway, or my home stomping grounds of Alaska.

And, as Sutter mentioned, nighttime skies have to be dark for you to see the aurora; otherwise, you might as well be hunting for a flashlight beam in a well-lit room. Here in the northern hemisphere, that usually translates to September to April. 

Lastly, you’ll need to pray for clear skies. If whatever deity you’ve addressed is kind enough to sweep the clouds away, just one obstacle remains: the aurora itself, which is about as predictable in its appearances as a cat deciding whether it really wants to go outside or not.

Giddyap, space cowboy

That’s not the aurora’s fault. If you were the equivalent of a neon space tumbleweed, blowing in on the whims of space weather, you’d be a little inconsistent too.

That’s because the aurora is caused by solar wind — streams of particles that are energized enough to escape the sun, which eventually collide with oxygen and nitrogen in our upper atmosphere. The particles’ charged energy is released as the brilliant green, red, pink, and purple streamers and sheets of the northern lights — pretty much the same principle as what happens inside the tubes of a neon light when you flip the electrical switch to “on.”

The more energy that’s released from the sun, the brighter the aurora we get. But forecasting space weather is even more difficult than forecasting terrestrial weather. 

So unless you want to cross your fingers and purchase a last-minute berth when you hear that a powerful geomagnetic storm is heading our way, all you can do is choose a few sailing dates and cross your fingers. You’ve rolled the dice, and now it’s up to Lady Luck. 

The dark of night

The good news is that, as long as you’re not sailing under the midnight sun, there is no darkness quite like that of a ship at sea — and few vantage points quite so expansive.

“[A] great thing about viewing the aurora on a ship is that guests’ views will be unobstructed: while at sea, there are no buildings — or even natural formations like mountains — that will block views at sea,” explains Robert DeBruin, formerly a deck and safety officer for Holland America Line, now their director of deployment and itinerary planning. “And, guests can avoid the bulk of light pollution they may….

By Lisa Maloney

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