Travel Notes | The Far North—Alaska (2)—Fairbanks, the City of Aurora

Fairbanks is located in the center of Alaska and is a great place to watch the Aurora. Famous places in the world where you can see the aurora include Alaska, Yellowknife in Canada, Northern Europe, Russia, etc. It seems that the only place that can be called the aurora capital in the world is Fairbanks, Alaska in the United States.

Why is this place so uniquely favored? The reason is that Fairbanks is a large city, but it is located at 65°N, only more than 200 kilometers away from the Arctic Circle. Regardless of the strength of the magnetic field, it is always in the center of the auroral belt. In addition to being in the auroral zone and having to have enough darkness, this place is located inland and is blocked by large mountains on both sides, which can avoid the harsh weather of the Arctic. The climate is stable and the temperature is suitable, making it a perfect place for aurora observation. According to the official announcement, there are 240 days a year when aurora level 2 or above can occur. The probability of successful observation is 90% if you stay for 3 nights in Fairbanks, and 97% if you stay for 4 nights. Fairbanks is a well-deserved capital of aurora.

In order to avoid urban light pollution, it is necessary to observe in the wild mountains without obstruction and light pollution. It is said that if you are lucky, if you look up late at night, you can catch the ever-changing colorful ribbons flying in the sky.

We were not so lucky this time. We arranged four nights of observation, with heavy snow, light snow, and cloudy weather. We went out to mountainous areas dozens of kilometers away several times without success. In the end, we finally saw an aurora, so we did not return empty-handed.