Frage....

[Marjorie]

Hallo,

It seems to me ( and others at the Dutch Aurora-forum ) that the northern lights occur more often in the U.S and Canada, than in Europe.
Is this really true, or is it just imagination ( I don't think so )

Then the question is: why do they occur more often at the other side of the Atlantic??

Thanks and groeten,

Marjorie ( Norden von Holland )

[Lutz Schenk]

Hi Marjorie,

it's true. it is because of the magnetic pole, which is located closer to north-america, then europe. Even the magnetic Lattitude is lower in north -america then here. May this will change in the next 100 years, or a little earlier....

regards,

Lutz

[jan lameer]

Ehm, I think the answer is more complicated.

Our geomagnetic location in Netherlands or northern Germany is comparable to Boston or Chicago (give or take a few degrees). Remember that for instance New York City is aproximately at the same latitude geographically as Napes in Italy.

But the US and Canada are just a lot larger from east to west. If you include the UK, then we all still live in only two timezones. We don't get reports from Poland or Russia. We also almost never get reports from Denmark. So I can say that in the US there are more people watching and also more people reporting.

Then there is another factor: climate. We live om the western edge of a continent with a lot of warm humid air rolling in and forming clouds. Most US and Canadian observers live either on the east side of the American continent or in the middle of it with usually clear skies. Our dominant sky condition is overcast.

Jan