Northern Lights in Svalbard

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between roughly 74°N and 81°N, about halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Seeing the northern lights here is a different trip from mainland Scandinavia: you get weeks without daylight and aurora in the middle of the day, but the night-time displays are often fainter.

Daytime aurora in Svalbard

The aurora oval is a ring around the magnetic pole, and it sits further north on the side of the Earth facing the sun. In the evening and at night, northern Scandinavia is under the oval and Svalbard lies north of it. Night-time aurora here is therefore often weaker and more diffuse, and it tends to show up toward the southern horizon. During strong geomagnetic storms the oval can shift so far south that the nights lighting up Finnish Lapland are not always good nights in Svalbard.

In the late morning things flip. Svalbard sits under the daytime part of the oval, where particles from the solar wind come in more directly. Because the polar night keeps the sky dark, this dayside aurora can be seen with the naked eye, usually around 10 a.m. That is why there is so much aurora research here, from the Kjell Henriksen Observatory near Longyearbyen to the research village of Ny-Ålesund.

Where to stay for northern lights in Svalbard

For visitors, the base is Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, the largest island. It has the airport, the accommodation and almost all of the guided aurora tours. Other settlements are small: Barentsburg is a Russian mining town, Ny-Ålesund is mainly for researchers, and Pyramiden is a former Soviet mining town. From mid-February, once there is daylight again, you can reach Barentsburg on a snowmobile day trip.

Polar bears and guided trips

Polar bears live across the whole archipelago, so the same rules apply everywhere outside the settlements. You have to carry something to scare a bear off, and the Governor of Svalbard recommends a rifle too. Most visitors leave town only with a guide.

Getting to Svalbard

Flights to Longyearbyen leave from Oslo and Tromsø. Svalbard is outside the Schengen area, so bring your passport even if you are flying from mainland Norway.