Hunting Northern Lights in Akureyri

and common misconceptions

On my first full day in Akureyri, Iceland, I started with horseback riding, and a food tour. Then, I immediately went from dinner to a Northern Lights tour. Coincidentally, Armann was my guide for both! 

There are a few things I learned about the hunt for Northern Lights. I’m going to put my key takeaways in bullet form.  They’re very important as it appears there are A LOT of misconceptions about Northern Lights.

• In order to see Northern Lights, it must be dark outside.  That means, in the summer when there is 24 hour daylight, there could be northern light activity, but I guarantee you – you won’t be able to see it.
• That means that a full moon can affect how well you can see the Northern Lights with your naked eye.
• Besides being too bright, cloud cover is an enemy to the NL.  If there are too many clouds, the NL will not shine through the density of the cloud. Plus, because of long exposure times and cloud movement, it doesn’t do you any favors for the photos.
• The NL don’t happen every night, just because you’re in Iceland or in the North.  It’s based on solar activity.
• You have to actively chase or hunt NL.  Most experienced tour guides will have spotters around town, looking at the sky or conditions, telling the guides where to go for the best viewing. 
• A tour is definitely the best option.  It would be very rare for you to sit in your hotel, see it from the window, and walk outside to view it. It’s possible – but for your first time, I wouldn’t chance it like that.
• Most tours out of Reykjavik drive 1-2 hours outside the city, because of the city lights. This is also because there are less opportunities for NL in “the South.” It is definitely possible, but fewer opportunities.

Akureyri, in the north, sits in the middle of prime NL activity. 

• In Akureyri, we drove 5 minutes outside town for the first showing that evening, and then 20 minutes outside town for the second showing (more on that later).
• Adjust your expectations downward from those gorgeous photos people post online.  Those are heavy NL activity evenings, when they are shot.  That’s not every night or every NL showing.  And of course, everyone is showing their most vibrant, most exciting photos.
• The most thing I’ve heard is “I want to see a big NL covering the sky.”  Well, that’s great, but those are only under super, ideal conditions, which may not happen during the 1 or 2 nights you choose to go out.
• If you keep looking at your phone or your camera screen, your eyes will never adjust to the darkness it needs to view it properly.
• If you really want to photograph the NL, if you don’t have at least a tripod, or a super steady hand (and the Northern Lights camera app),  I really wouldn’t even bother.
• Also, fortune favors the prepared, so if you do want to photograph the NL, be sure you know your camera settings before hand.  I’ll give you my camera settings below, but if you just google NL photography, there are several sites with great tips.
• Last but not least, with a low to moderate showing, it is not super visible with the naked eye.  In our first showing, it was a green band (horizontal streak over the sky).  With the naked eye, it looked like a light streak of cloud with a light tint of green.  Then again, the moon that night was about 80% full and very bright, which lessened the color of the NL as well.

As you can see, conversations in the last few days yielded a lot of common misnomers about the lights!

So without further ado…

1st Northern Lights in Akureyri

• ISO 400,
• 14 mm wide angle lens,
• f/3.5,
• shutter speed 20 seconds.

Northern Lights are rated on a kp scale of intensity, from 0-9.  The above is about a 3.  We were lucky, that this was only a few minutes outside of town when the first aurora appeared (see town lights in the distance). 

Same camera settings as above, setting it on a timer, and running in front and standing there for 20 seconds.

The aurora lasted maybe 10 minutes or so, and gradually became lighter (the photo above is towards the “end”).

2nd Showing of Northern Lights in Akureyri

We quickly moved locations, as there was another sighting.  This time it was across the fjord, around 20-30 minutes from where we originally were.  Same settings as above, with the town of Akureyri in the lower center left.  This is a small curtain, as it starts to wave across the sky (versus the band in the first location).

We stayed out here for about half an hour, and then the next thing you know, it’s nearing 11:30 on and time to go home. 

Parting Thoughts on Northern Lights in Akureyri

Overall it was a very successful aurora sighting.  And even though it was a small showing, I was VERY pleased with it.

In case you’re curious, there is a good aurora forecast app, that shows you where there is aurora activity, what the forecasted kp score is based on your location, etc.  The rest of my time in Reykjavik was low forecast, so I’m just going to take it easy on the hunt!

Just a reminder, Northern Lights are possible in and around Reykjavik. But if you really want spectacular showings, they happen more in the north around Akureyri. So consider going more north for a northern lights adventure!

I hope you all learned a lot from my post and can manage your expectations accordingly!

Lannie

Lannie is a perpetual wanderer and loves to share her travel adventures and the food she eats along the way with everyone.  She works during the day while bouncing around the world and dreams about new places and faces at night!  She has a home on the magical Isle of Islay in Scotland, where the whisky flows freely and happily.

Click on the blue icons below to follow her on social media!

lanniesfoodandtravel.com/index.php/about-me/