This year's increased solar activity made it possible to enjoy the polar lights during the whole fall in northern Russia. Our photographer Ivan Dementievsky captured this fantastic natural show of light in Karelia.
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Ivan Dementievsky
Welcome to Karelia, the land of marvelous crystal-clear lakes and endless taiga.
Ivan Dementievsky
Karelia is a region in the Russian Far North, where winter lasts for almost 6 months and in December the sun barely rises above the horizon. But in this kingdom of cold and darkness there is a something that brightens the world — the magnificent aurora borealis.
Ivan Dementievsky
The aurora or polar lights is a typical natural phenomenon for high latitude regions.
Ivan Dementievsky
This marvel of nature is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms high in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Ivan Dementievsky
This year this natural light performance turned into something special due to increased solar activity.
Ivan Dementievsky
Photographer Ivan Dementievsky shoots the polar lights in various subarctic locations in Russia, but he cannot recall a more powerful radiance than the one this year.
Ivan Dementievsky
The polar lights usually occur in winter but this year the powerful aurora lit up the forests of northern Russia long before snow covered its endless spaces.
Ivan Dementievsky
“I was able to take the first pictures of the aurora as early as August — that's unbelievable,” says Dementievsky.
Ivan Dementievsky
Ivan shared with RBTH his recent shots from the Karelian villages of Chupa and Nilmoguba close to the White Sea shore.
Ivan Dementievsky
Night-time on the Arctic Circle has never been so bright!
