Early sunrise in Greenland

[Kieran]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ating.html

"The sun over Greenland has risen two days early, baffling scientists and sparking fears that Arctic icecaps are melting faster than previously thought.
Experts say the sun should have risen over the Arctic nation's most westerly town, Ilulissat, yesterday, ending a month-and-a-half of winter darkness.
But for the first time in history light began creeping over the horizon at around 1pm on Tuesday - 48 hours ahead of the usual date of 13 January.
The mysterious sunrise has confused scientists, although it is believed the most likely explanation is that it is down to the lower height of melting icecaps allowing the sun's light to penetrate through earlier."


Apologies for the source, haven't seen this story elsewhere but it seems important.

[Ludwig]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... ating.html

"The sun over Greenland has risen two days early, baffling scientists and sparking fears that Arctic icecaps are melting faster than previously thought.
Experts say the sun should have risen over the Arctic nation's most westerly town, Ilulissat, yesterday, ending a month-and-a-half of winter darkness.
But for the first time in history light began creeping over the horizon at around 1pm on Tuesday - 48 hours ahead of the usual date of 13 January.
The mysterious sunrise has confused scientists, although it is believed the most likely explanation is that it is down to the lower height of melting icecaps allowing the sun's light to penetrate through earlier."


Apologies for the source, haven't seen this story elsewhere but it seems important.

A classic from the Comments section: "Could it not be that on that day the sky was a little less cloudy and therefore the sun could be seen a bit clearer????"

[Kieran]

A classic from the Comments section: "Could it not be that on that day the sky was a little less cloudy and therefore the sun could be seen a bit clearer????"

I've got a bad throat right now so avoided the comments as laughing too much would set me coughing again. Shame really.

[UndercoverElephant]

That is because all "our" warm air has been redirected there last winter and the first half of this one.

[biffvernon]

The only thing more daft than an article in the Daily Mail is the comments that follow.

[RogueMale]

I'll plump for the Novaya Zemlya effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage_of_ ... lya_effect.

Melting ice causing a lowering of the outline of the hills to the south of Ilulissat is another possible explanation. See Alison's comment, which contains a photograph of a first sunrise at Ilulissat (Jakobshavn) here: http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blog ... e=activity. This can only be confirmed or ruled out by someone in Ilulissat.

Of course, various nutcases get excited by this sort of thing and think the world's about to end. It isn't.

For reference, sunrise and sunset times at Ilulissat are here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/a ... =-11&day=1

The original source for the story is KNR Radio Greenland. It has appeared in the Austrian press, the Daily Mail, and has been commented on by Austrian scientists.

A hoax is possible, but there's no suggestion of one as I write, and there are mundane explanations.

[PS_RalphW]

To be boring, could the sunlight have been refracted round the curvature of the earth by unusual air temperature conditions? Like a mirage in reverse.

It might be due to a temperature inversion.

[RogueMale]

To be boring, could the sunlight have been refracted round the curvature of the earth by unusual air temperature conditions? Like a mirage in reverse.

It might be due to a temperature inversion.

That's more or less what the Novaya Zemlya effect is. See the link I posted.