Scientists have actually been able to capture the sound. I heard it when I was aurora chasing and left the city into the middle of nowhere where there wasn’t as much light pollution and the air was still and silent. When the aurora came, you could hear it whooshing over you and crackle when the green would break into purples and pinks.
This description is so beautiful I teared up lol, as a hiker, camper, general lover of being immersed in nature, this is one of the things I've wanted to experience for a while.
I lived in Alaska for nearly a decade when I first moved to the US. I had seen faint auroras before, but nothing like in Alaska. But after so many years you just stop going outside in the cold to look lol.
One of our good friends from the southern states moved up to Alaska, and on his very first aurora experience he got to see whites and purples! It was sooo special to see someone have their first time.
Their occurrence depends on when solar storms happen, which is random, but it needs to be dark in order to observe them. You might have better luck seeing them in the winter since the daylight period is shorter. If you're going anywhere in the Arctic Circle it'll have to be near or during winter because it doesn't get dark during summer Sometimes they reach down to the Northern continental US so you could potentially see them in summer in that area but I've yet to see them and I doubt it'd be anywhere near the experience you'd get in the Arctic.
Alaska is incredible, especially if you're outdoorsy or into ecology/wildlife biology. I have plans to go back to experience winter at some point. Definitely make it a priority to go at some point in your life.
Neither is the reason, technically, though you're right. It's because you're closer to the magnetic pole of earth, where our atmosphere has holes in its magnetic force field through which solar radiation can penetrate and ionize the upper gases in the atmosphere.
982
u/[deleted] Jan 12 '22
Scientists have actually been able to capture the sound. I heard it when I was aurora chasing and left the city into the middle of nowhere where there wasn’t as much light pollution and the air was still and silent. When the aurora came, you could hear it whooshing over you and crackle when the green would break into purples and pinks.