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Dateline Resolute Bay 74 43 north 94 57 West

New generation sequences have exact times and or coordinates, meaning that bearings are extremely precise. There are 5 locations where the following pictures were taken. Three in Resolute Bay, 2 in Montreal. Montreal sequences are denoted, otherwise all other pictures are from Resolute Bay. Please note the records so far, lowest sunset ever filmed was in Resolute bay in 1987, lower than –4.4 degrees, 2nd place was in Resolute November 2002 at –3.3 degrees. Greatest number of Green flashes in one sunset observation was seen February 3 2003, several dozen were seen. To date no official Almanac nor sun tables explain nor acknowledge that many of the following events can exist.

2001 - 2002


March 6 2001, SUNSET observed at least at 23:37 while upper limb was1.4 degrees below the horizon, official sunset was 23:27 (upper limb -.67 degrees).

(Click on all images on this page to see detailed photo)


March 7 2001, official Sunset time 23:33 UT sun disk well above horizon still at that time, low clouds prevented a full sunset observation. Boost of upper limb at least 1.3 degrees while the sun was -.7 degrees below the horizon. (ON video and 35 mm).



March 8 2001, SUNSET at least 23:49 UTC (officially 23:27); on pictures and video. Boost of upper limb was 1.6 degrees. (On video and 35 mm)

March 9 2001, partial SUNSET at least 23:56 clouds (0.1 degrees, officially 23:44). Upper limb boost of at least 1.533 degrees. (On video and 35 mm)..



March 10 2001, partial SUNSET at least 00:04 UTC , biggest upper limb boost ever recorded since double sunset (February 5), an amazing 1.72 degrees despite low water sky clouds 0.1 degrees above the horizon. Official sunset 23:49 UTC.

March 13 2001, sunset obstructed by clouds. At official sunset 0006 UTC, the sun disk disappeared under 0.5 degree or so deck of horizon clouds. (On Video)

March 14,2001, sunset obstructed by clouds. Despite this, brightest sun segment seen until 0022 UTC, upper limb boost 1.5 degrees.


March 16, 2001, partial sunset, clouds , sun filmed through clouds after official sunset time. (video camera froze).



March 17, 2001, almost complete SUNSET, slight obstruction by distant islands. Official sunset 0028 UTC, seen at least until 0040UTC a upper limb boost of 1.52 degrees. (Video and 35 mm).



March 18,2001, cloudy horizon, official sunset 00:34 UTC , lost in clouds at 00:42 UTC. (video)

March 19, 2001, almost complete sunset observed until 00:47 UTC, island obstruction. Official sunset 00:39 UTC, sun appeared identical as previous days, whole with a flat bottom.



March 20,2001, partial sunset observed until 00:54 UTC, island obstruction, official sunset 00:45 UTC. (Video only)



March 21,2001, complete SUNSET observed until 01:10 UTC, official sunset time 00:50 UTC. This was a record 2 degrees upper limb boost,. (on video camera froze).



March 22, 2001, partial sunset, clouds, sun well up at official time (00:56 UTC), stopped seeing at 0009 UTC a boost of 1.6 degrees.



March 24,2001, partial sunset, clouds, complete disk above the horizon at official time (01:07 UTC). "Fire on the ice" like the sun persisted quite long, bright sun observed until 01:22 UTC.



Mar 25,2001, sunset, a few clouds might have changed observed sunset time, official sunset time Had a full sun disk (01:13 UTC) , observed last "fire on the ice" was at 01:26 UTC.

Zenith sun angles courtesy of Fourmilab's "Your Sky" website.

September October 2001, very frustrating time to make observations, endless clouds covered the sky, but the very few sunsets observed in September were very round and almost on schedule with respect to official estimates, this was not a surprise warmer weather would do just that.


Sep 22, 2001 sun still well up, winter has started. This date places the sun almost exactly as with March 21, 2001 observation with a boost of 2.4 degrees.

[Oct 30.jpg]

Oct 30 2013 UTC, usual observation spot moved in order to see the maximum amount of sun, -1.1 degrees below the horizon with plenty of time before sunset


Oct 31 2008 UTC sun very well up despite position of –1 degrees (including dip). Griffith Island prevented a precise sunset measurement




Nov 2 , a small stubborn band of clouds prevailed at about 0.2 degrees above the horizon, despite this the sun was last seen cloud free when it was –0.76 degrees below the horizon (dip factored in), it appeared through the clouds not so bright but red, it is doubtful whether a glare I call “sunset panache” causes this . Picture times from left to right (1940,1946 and 1959 UTC). This is a significant observation it compares well with Nov 7, 2000 record.


Nov3 finally a complete sunset, with a few water skies, picture with filter shows very round like appearance of sun (a few minutes before it set), with a modest upper limb boost of 1.0 degrees.


Nov 4, another complete sunset at 1923 UTC, taken 2 meters above sea level, the line was seen at the very end. With a lower limb boost of 1.24 degrees. The picture here clearly shows the double sunset background phenomena still unidentified, its best to describe it a “sunset panache”.


Nov 5, a complete polar sunset was photographed with all the Polar sunset phases (1917UTC). The digital camera failed to capture the geometric phases well, the panache light was filmed blending with the rectangular sun, a Novaya Zemlya effect and the line. Even with the naked eye, the panache and geometrical forms are not distinguishable, polarized sunglasses were essential. With a lower limb boost of 1.3 degrees.

Nov 15, 2001


Nov 7, no sunrise/sunset data possible on account of massive 1 degree high horizon clouds oddly shrinking to 1 degree above the horizon. If you look carefully at the picture you will see a red like dot just above the sun position, this is most likely a "silver lining", indicating that the sun was behind a small cloud, thanks Andy. Officially the sun should not have been seen, last official sun day was November 6.


Nov 14, the sun was seen not the same way as filmed previously, above a superior mirage, with a fabulous boost of 2.7 degrees at 1805 UTC, unfortunately I didn't have my camera when I seen it. A picture at 1859 UTC was taken at a convenient site, the superior mirage of Somerset Island is clearly visible, note the brightness truly presented by the digital camera, despite the sun upper limb being 3.10 below the horizon . The spectacular boost has something to do with a massive inversion layer of 15 degrees C. There are two types of refraction boosts, one such as seen this day was the result of ducting, the sun might have consisted of multiple lines, but the eye can't differentiate without the help of telescope lens, this boost is attributed to an inversion, not to say that the extremely cold air didn't play a role which has something to do with brightness and a significant contribution in overall total refraction.




Nov 15, with great anticipation, I expected a repeat of yesterday, ready with three cameras, but the sun didn't reappear at the same time. Fortunately school colleagues got a glimpse of the sun when it moved westwards from a massive inversion based superior mirage of Somerset Island. Some 35 minutes after local apparent noon it appeared for a few minutes as an expanding and shrinking line hugging the ground. The first picture shows how huge the mirage is at LAN. The above middle picture was taken from an old digital camera which showed the sun just peaking up, the upper limb boost was a massive 3.3 degrees.

This event was also filmed on video tape, a frame capture seen (extreme right picture) shows that the sun broke through more or less as a single line, on top of the inversion as on the 14th. Again this is a classic example of ducting with a 19 C temperature inversion. The brightness is unmistakably great, go to the Terminator page to see what this sky looked like from space.




Finally got it, LocalApparentNoon pictures with a lower sun brighter than a higher one. Using November 29, 2001 [Tn291804] as a template, compare with Jan 7 2002 [TJ071804] and Jan 9 2002 [TJ091809]. It took a long time to achieve this proper comparison(4 years). Now equipped with a new camera capable of a fixed exposure time, here is irrefutable proof . January 7 and 9 even with some clouds are brighter than fabulous November 29 (this day had a significant inversion note the inferior mirage and expanded in size of Somerset Island). The only difference on these pictures, apart from sun elevation, are temperature profiles, January 07-09 being much colder in the troposphere than November 29. Note the sun elevations in the lower right hand corner, and find out which picture has ice crystals...



More great supporting evidence for brighter when colder theory. January 15, 2002 picture [Tj151809.jpg], has more brightness than with November 22 ,2001 [Tn221804.jpg]. Not favoring more light for January 15 is a lower sun, by 0.85 degrees elevation and greater cloud coverage. Despite all this January 15 twilight had a noticeably greater illumination near the horizon.

2002 sunrise and sunsets.

Many green and red flashes, apparent strong warming of atmosphere.

ALL pictures marked with sun elevation indicates astronomical elevation of the sun center (no dip compensation). Official times provided by sunrisesunset.com (they consider sunrise and sunsets to be at –0.5 degrees below the horizon).


February 1, 2002. No question about it, the sun was up again February 1, this picture may not be
convincing , but sunset/sunrise specialists should easily make the distinction given by the clouds above the sun azimuth. Not knowing exact sunset time due to clouds is a problem that can be worked out with better infrared gear. –1.81, in the lower right corner, is the astronomical elevation at the sun center in degrees.

February 7, 2002. Remarkable day despite clouds which masked a great deal of data over the last few weeks. Partial sunset filmed until 2022-2024 GMT, hard to say exactly when it occurred because of a very shallow cloud bank. Admitting the later time, makes the sunset at –1.29 degrees(Upper Limb [UL] astronomical position) which suggests very warm temperatures aloft. Last year at this date the sunset was at about UL –1.75 degrees. There was not a great deal of ducting, except for a shallow one immediately above the ice. Several dozen green and red flashes were seen throughout the day as the sun’s upper transit was about +0.5 degrees.


February 17,2002. Partial sunset above island 0.22 degrees above the horizon. Complete boost at this time was in excess of 0.7 degrees. Clouds made it again difficult to judge exact sunset time, but it was much later.


March 06 official sunset 23:17 off again by at least 15 minutes, partial set at 23:34 UTC/z. Remarkable Red flash as seen on picture above.

March 8 2002. Sunset boost of 1.44 degrees, not strong at all compared to last years 1.7 degree lift.



March 10 sunset had at least a dozen green another dozen red flashes. It set again some 15 minutes after official prediction. What seems to be remarkable, is the weak sunset boost of 1.39 degrees, much weaker Refraction than noted at the same time dates last year. A sure indication of a warmer atmosphere.


March 11, 2002. Great flashes, dozens again, red and green. Observed sunset 15 minutes after official sunset prediction. Again weak sunset boost of 1.46 degrees compared to last years –1.98 observation of the sunset. Warm atmosphere prevails over the skies west of Resolute Bay. The line observed over many Multiple layered red flashes, strong inversion, much stronger than last year.

March 12, 2002. Clouds, but before loosing the sun made a measurement of sun vertical diameter of 22.8 minutes when the sun was at +0.64 degrees above the horizon.



March 13, 2002. Some clouds, confident that I saw complete sunset at 0012 UTC. Official sunset was 2345 UTC. Incredible illusions were seen throughout. Again a very weak –1.43 degrees sunset, getting to be 0.6 degrees smaller boost than last year. [sm140010.jpg] is multiple green flashes, upper most one
Strikingly beautiful, it was a very thin line above the sun line with multiple colours. Lower inversion A weak +0.032 C/m 249 meters high. Total inversion LPR +0.017 C/m 894 meters high. The Upper Air Profile looks amazingly warm compared to last year.

Mid –March to mid April offered a few surprises, namely:

-A brief reprieve for cold Air. But it didn’t last.

-Atmospheric extinction of the sun in mid-air

-Prediction of sunsets more feasible with differential refraction.



March 14, revenge of cold air. After the mild winter a great cooling occurred almost overnight. The cooling occurred all the way from 295 to 35,000 meters by a significant margin of about 5 degrees C on average. A very important point is the near none existence of an inversion compared to previous day. A cold blast came from a building High pressure due West of observation point. This caused the return of the line which vanished at –2.29 degrees. A 4th place record for a low sun sighting in Resolute Bay. The inversion was only 99 meters high, with a weak LPR of .042 C/m. The line disappeared twice, creating 2 days in one, in rose again from –1.8 and caused quite a sensation.



March 16, soon to be famous sm17 series, simply fabulous sunset in mid-air! Caused by extinction due to great number of atmospheres, it is similar to doctor Andrew Young’s “mock mirage”, but not quite identical. The full sequence is put aside for publication, but two tantalizing pictures above show the most splendid sunset in my memory. On sm170023, “the kiss of the mirror sun”, the sun in white is cut off while being in rectangular phase, the cut off point is approximately the same as the “dip horizon” or apparent horizon. The red mirage sun rose as a sunrise, only to kiss the sun at the cut off point. More details will be published one day, a weak inversion again was above ground (+0.019 C/m). Sm170032 shows the sun as it appeared shortly before it extinguished in mid air.


March 17, disappointing clouds offering a pale glimpse of preceding days. The sun image above still is well above the horizon by about +0.12 degrees.


March 21, disappointment continues at the anniversary of the Kohno sunset. However this picture offers again an extraordinary view of the sun. Some +0.5 degrees above the horizon, a boost of at least 1 degrees.



March 26, the basic cloud argument is literally seen here. With a complete sun at –0.22 degrees, the first picture shows strong refraction despite clouds boosting the sun up by about 0.76 degrees. The second picture gives a boost in excess of 1.1 degrees. The cloud argument contradicts the popular notion amongst meteorologists, that EH2r effects are merely mirages. Clouds almost completely deny this untenable point of view. The upper air had no inversion immediately above the surface, there was rather a weak one from 199 to 244 meters with LPR of +0.04 degrees C/meters.




March 27, despite a thin veil of clouds, the sunset was seen until –1.45 degrees. Considerable warming of the troposphere occurred. Tropopause was only –50 C. But the line was produced and clouds exposed strange and interesting light geometry.



March 28, anticipating hill “effects” across the frozen Bay, the sunset flashed its regular colours, when in rectangular phase behind a hill, it spawned but briefly a slanted line going up but momentarily. The only inversion measured was a weak one from 506 to 764 meters.




March 29, intriguing Geometry, as the sun sinks behind a hill, its shape was altered [sm300130]. At a –0.92 degrees, there was a boost of 1.2 degrees. A slanted greenflash, sighted really brilliant green, was finally seen. Digital camera failed to capture the green though. No inversion off surface, inversion starts above the hill with a LPR at +0.035 C/m.


March 30, Greenflash, not captured green, was seen right after the last bright limb segment went below the hill top (this is about 0.5 degrees above the horizon.

April 2002, recognition of sky color, asymmetric atmosphere confirmation, quick return of warmer air.



April 3 2002, almost to the day with Polar sunset sequence as on this web page, and what a difference a year makes. The only thing similar with last year is the sky colour, it was the same, a very light orange brown sky near the low sun. The sunset finished a paltry – 1.39 degrees, compared with last year, this boost was severely weaker by 0.5 degrees. The difference between last year is a colder stratosphere and lower troposphere. The inversion in 2002 was much stronger than 2001, it was +0.04 C/m. But the “brain” like sun resulted from a strong inversion. As the sun moved further North a red flash appeared to grow towards the South, in fact it was the sun moving northwards above a fine thermal layer causing the red flash (Dr Andrew Young’s site will explain this).



April 10, clouds galore, difficult to get a good sunset.. [sa110227] indicates strong refraction with about a 0.7 degree boost with sun elevation when at 0 degrees elevation. Despite this years warmer air, the boost is double what any navigation almanac can predict. [sa110246] is a nice roundish sunset, indicating a significantly warmer atmosphere than 2 weeks prior. But the sun line still showed up at –1.18 degrees on top of a small ridge.



April 11, the colour as shown in the first picture is typical of April sunsets, it is not at all similar to March and February. Sunset is still a weak –1.29.



April 13 no cooling in sight, mild inversion of 0.013 C/m. Sunset and sunrise times are strictly related to the temperature of the entire air profile. The biggest sunrise or sunset boost is directly proportional to the average pressure compensated temperature of the entire upper air profile. The coldest upper air temperature profile always gives the biggest elevation boosts. Comparing the biggest sunset boost very cold temperature profile with any other warmer day has confirmed this astro-meteorological relation. Day 13 stratosphere was still remarkably warmer than last year. And it can be shown that the stratosphere very weak pressure but often very cold temperature affects the light path enough to create noticeable boosts on the surface.





April 13, a reprieve from the cold., a noticeable shrinkage in differential refraction was measured, likewise sunset extended itself a bit longer than previous day. Sunset at –1.39 degrees, near 2002 season average. No clouds, [sa140313] had camera movement, still a good showing of the line turning into “fire on ice”. Sunsets roundish as with weaker boosts. Weak inversion started at 195 meters with 0.022 C/m.




April 14, sunset –1.43, as suggested by differential refraction analysis, the sun disk shrunk more at higher elevations, as a result, there was a stronger upwards sunset boost than preceding day, fire on ice excellent shot typically short lasting as with warmer atmospheres. Inversion started at 99 meters and was a weak 0.011 C/m.




April 16 2002, partial sunset –1.19 degrees, caused by clouds. The air in the sky is really none uniform at a great scale. There is no such thing as continuously similar strata for a great distance, only on rare occasions this happens. Differential refraction scan of the West sector revealed this today, while the sun was greatly inflated due to warm air in the Southwest quadrant, the sun took similar, shrunken, dimensions as with preceding day when appeared in the West-northwest sector. Without clouds the sunset would have had most likely a similar boost to the day before. Compression and inflation of the sun’s vertical diameter is not small below about 6 degrees, it can change by factors of Arc minutes.



April 18, final noticeable sunset from regular location , must now move in order to get others, first picture was overexposed but still showed a great boost with the sun well above the sloped horizon. A boost of about 0.9 degrees when the sun is –0.55 degrees below the horizon. There was hardly an inversion to speak of, but the sun line still hugged the upwards slanted landscape.

September-October-November 2002, clouds nothing but clouds.

It was the most dreadful observation period in 17 years. On rare occasions Star Magnitudes were not observable beyond 4.7. I have captured only 2 low horizon sunsets. Waiting was worthwhile, the two occasions were extraordinary. Warming trend continues unabated, no respite or observable long lasting cooling period was noted. All three months had much warmer weather than usual.



September 13 2002, extraordinary pictures despite poor weather. SS140119 is perhaps one of my most exciting captures. It shows a rectangular sun (seen without visual aids) bending with the hill profile. The physics involved here is most interesting, keep in mind it snowed when this shot was taken.


October 21, a sunset above Griffith Island, given that the height of the Island is slightly higher than the camera spot (by about 40 meters). The boost was remarkably weak, something like 0.9 degrees.



Again above Griffith Island a small boost despite a prominent inversion. The camera didn’t move during the taking of do252043, yet the sun spots appeared to have moved up and down changing apparent size, It was a natural overlay of the inversion sun image moving on top of the real image, at the edge of the sun disk image you can see this effect either above the upper limb or below the lower limb, other pictures show exactly the same thing.


October 27, again over Griffith Island a very weak sunset boost again was measured, it was very much in line with current temperature trends, October 2002 was one of the warmest recorded month in Resolute Bay’s history.




Strong 25 knot winds made it difficult to capture sn05 images, these winds are made apparent by causing quite large “bad image” effects. There was likely a “mock mirage” first seen as a huge lower limb red flash, then as usual the image of the true sun merged with the mirage causing the sunset to disappear above the horizon. Except that true and mirage images seemed greatly unsteady and morphed with turbulent winds. Without visual aids there were two apparent sun images, the true image and just below a bright refracted inferior mirage which seemed to come from sea ice. The true sun eventually appeared rectangular either with or without the telescope, the image coming from sea ice was observed bright and extremely steady but appears weaker due to telescope filter, this suggested an inversion layer not perturbed by winds.







The moon set at about -0.4 degrees, but with a +0.9 degrees horizon. These sequence was taken during the first cold days in a long while. Refraction boost of +1.3 degrees at -0.4 degrees is extraordinary. Picture md24204901 shows the first green flash captured from the moon at -0.274 degrees. The caving in of the moon's upper limb is another interesting picture.




December 25 2002, first moonset filmed at such low elevations. In fact the moon disappeared at -1.9 degrees. However camera gear could not pick up its faintness. It was perceived that the moon disk image goes through very similar transformations than the sun disk. It flattens to a line and the line lasted a good 8 minutes. At the end the line looked like slow moving large but round sea waves.