So I’m sitting here in Saariselkä, Finland, learning about the relationship between space weather (the interaction between the sun itself, the sun’s magnetic field, which permeates the solar system, and the Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere) and climate. There have been some interesting talks on the possibility that the sun’s last fifty years or so of increased activity might be coming to an end (which could have big impacts on the climate) and the difficulty of separating the effects of solar forcing on climate from man-made effects on climate. (Nonetheless, the consensus seems to be that climate change is real and mostly man-made.)

Ski track in Snowy Lapland!

But of course, being north of the Arctic Circle brings some other benefits as well. We’ve sledded on a 1 mile sled track under the northern lights, and I’ve skied all over the place on the pretty much perfectly groomed and well-marked ski trails. With appropriate gear, you could probably get anywhere in Finland on skis, there’s so much infrastructure around here dedicated to it.

Aurora!

On Wednesday, I did a nice little trip to a small cabin about 7 or so km away with a French scientist from Orleans. It’s set up so you could ski in, fire up the wood stove and cook some dinner, warm up the hut, then climb up into the loft and spend the night. Below is a map of the ski track I took (one way).

More photos are up on Flickr.