Brian Bowie, one of our scientists, had received an 'Aurora warning' and spent the day checking and rechecking his equipment for our first exposure to this mysterious phenomenon. Many have heard of the well known Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights), but few know that we get the same phenomenon down south called the Aurora Australis.

Spirit of the ancestors?
Auroras are caused by the interaction of the solar wind with particles moving along the earth’s magnetic field lines which shift from their normal path and interact with other particles lower in the earth’s atmosphere — these emit light of different colours depending on the height and element of the particle which is struck.

The colours can range from green to red to crimson and are by all accounts breathtaking. Auroras help us to understand solar weather and the earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere and recording them is an important part of our research program here in Antarctica. On a spiritual note, the Inuit in the north used to say that the lights were the spirits of their ancestors and we waited eagerly for this magical spectacle.

Just after supper, we heard the call: "Auroras to the east of base' over the intercom. Dropping what we were doing, we all rushed to put on our cold weather gear and hurried outside. Everyone was a bit disappointed. There were what looked like a few strangely shaped clouds in the sky. Certainly nothing to get excited about and with the temperature down to minus 30, we didn’t stay out long.

Later in the evening, there was another call and, somewhat more reluctantly this time, we headed outside again. What we saw was beyond description: huge glowing ribbons of dancing green light filled the sky in an ever-changing spectacle on a massive scale. Rushing to set up our cameras, there were shouts of joy and amazement. Brian and Chris van der Merwe (our other scientist), were jumping with excitement — this is what we had come here to see!

We faced the cold as long as we could, trying to capture the scene on film — quite impossible really — but finally had to head back in as their brightness slowly faded. The experience put everyone on a high for a few days and we talked in anticipation of the next sighting. Unfortunately, we are in an 11-year minimum for aurora activity, so chances are we may not see another display to match our first.

Certainly, the southern lights are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen; the extraordinary result of what happens when the sun caresses the sky.