Polar Night in Franz Josef Land: Dates and What It Is Like

Polar night is the period of continuous darkness that occurs inside the Arctic Circle when the Sun remains below the horizon for 24 hours or more. In Franz Josef Land, the world’s most northerly archipelago of Russia, this phenomenon lasts roughly four months, shaping the environment, wildlife behaviour, and human activity.

According to the Russian Arctic National Park, the polar night on the archipelago began on 18 October 2023 and concluded on 22 February 2024, when the Sun finally rose over Alexandra Land, the westernmost island that hosts the Omega permanent field base. The same dates have been recorded for previous years, confirming a stable seasonal pattern.

During the darkness the archipelago experiences extreme cold, high humidity, and gale‑force winds. Cloud cover is typically thick and low, limiting the visibility of aurora borealis despite the high latitude. These conditions create a uniquely harsh yet striking Arctic winter.

Study Area

Franz Josef Land (Russian: Земля Франца‑Иосифа) lies between 80° N and 81° N, about 1 100 km south of the North Pole, in the Barents Sea. The archipelago consists of roughly 190 islands, covering an area of 16 134 km². The Omega field base, operated by the Russian Arctic National Park, is situated on the western coast of Alexandra Land (approximately 81°10′ N, 58°30′ E). This location is representative of the broader climatic conditions across the islands.

What Scientists Measure

Modern observations at Omega combine automated meteorological instruments with manual readings taken by the two permanent staff members. The principal parameters recorded during polar night include:

• Solar elevation: negative values ranging from –23.5° at the winter solstice to –0.5° just before sunrise.
• Air temperature: daily averages around –30 °C, with minima reaching –45 °C during cold snaps.
• Relative humidity: typically 85–95 %, contributing to a penetrating cold.
• Wind speed: sustained winds of 20–30 m s⁻¹, with gusts up to 36 m s⁻¹ (≈130 km h⁻¹), comparable to hurricane strength.
• Cloud cover: low, dense stratus clouds dominate, often obscuring any auroral activity.
• Atmospheric pressure: high‑pressure systems prevail, averaging 1030 hPa.

Historical Evidence

The first systematic documentation of polar night in Franz Josef Land comes from the late 19th‑century polar explorers. Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen, who wintered at Cape Flora on North Island in 1895‑96, wrote of “continuous darkness from mid‑October to the end of February” and described temperatures that “fell below –30 °C” (Nansen, 1897). Later, the Jackson–Harmsworth Expedition (1894‑95) recorded similar dates in their field notes, noting that the Sun failed to rise for over three hundred days.

During the Soviet era, the establishment of the Ernst Krenkel Observatory on Heiss Island in 1935 provided a network of continuous observations. Logbooks from the 1950s confirm the same October‑to‑February interval, with recorded wind speeds up to 35 m s⁻¹ and cloud‑laden skies that limited visibility of the aurora (Sedov, 1972).

Recent Research

Since 2017 the Russian Arctic National Park has maintained a year‑round presence at Omega, enabling high‑resolution data collection. Satellite platforms such as NOAA’s GOES‑16 and ESA’s Sentinel‑3 complement ground observations, delivering precise sunrise and sunset times, surface albedo, and sea‑ice extent around the archipelago.

In 2023‑24 the park reported the following typical conditions for polar night (see table below):

These data are archived by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet) and are publicly accessible through the Arctic Data Center.

What Has Changed

Long‑term satellite records indicate that the calendar dates of polar night onset (≈18 October) and termination (≈22 February) have remained remarkably stable over the past three decades. However, climatological trends show a modest warming of winter temperatures—average February temperatures have risen by about 1.2 °C since the 1990s (Roshydromet, 2022). This warming has reduced the frequency of extreme cold spells (below –40 °C) but has not altered the duration of continuous darkness.

Reduced sea‑ice concentration in the Barents Sea has also affected local weather patterns, occasionally allowing clearer skies and more frequent auroral displays even during the darkest months.

Uncertainty and Open Questions

Key gaps in knowledge include:

• The precise impact of a warming winter on the physiological stress of polar bears and other mammals that rely on the darkness for hunting.
• How changes in cloud microphysics may affect surface energy balance during polar night.
• Long‑term trends in the timing of civil twilight—whether the first detectable light before sunrise is occurring earlier in the year.

Addressing these questions will require sustained in‑situ monitoring and integration of satellite data.

Data Sources

Primary observational data are supplied by:

• Russian Arctic National Park – Omega Field Base meteorological logs (2020‑present).
• Roshydromet – National climate archives.
• NOAA GOES‑16 and ESA Sentinel‑3 – Satellite radiometric and albedo products.
• Historical expedition diaries – Nansen (1897), Jackson–Harmsworth (1896), Soviet observatory reports (1950‑60).

All datasets are available through the Arctic Data Center (https://arcticdata.io) and the Russian Open Data Portal.