Photo: Polar night lights up in Pond Inlet

If you were in Pond Inlet Jan. 2, you may have been surprised to see the sun on the horizon: the sun isn’t supposed to rise at all in Pond Inlet, located at latitude 72.6 degrees, until Jan. 29. This new light during the polar night may be due to atmospheric warming — a kind of mirage created by reflected light from two pools of cold and warm air. In 2004, Resolute Bay resident and skywatcher Wayne Davidson explained this phenomenon, which had also been noted in Resolute and Grise Fiord, as “extremely high horizon refraction,” that is, when light comes through the High Arctic atmosphere, is magnified by the hot air, and then hits freezing cold air. Davidson called this effect the “Y V Ulluq Q” to honour scientists and Inuit. The initials in this name are for his scientist colleagues, Andrew Young and Siebren Van der Werf, and for Inuit through the word ulluq, “daytime” in Inuktitut. The “Q” stands for “Qausuittuq,” the Inuktitut word for Resolute, which means “the place where tomorrow never comes.” (PHOTO COURTESY OF SHEILA KATSAK)