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  • NEWS FEATURE

The Arctic after dark: a secret world of hidden life

An international team braved the far north in January to unlock secrets of how marine organisms tell day from night during the polar winter.
  1. Randall Hyman

    1. Randall Hyman is a freelance journalist in St Louis, Missouri, and was embedded with the Deep Impact mission in January 2023 and January 2016.

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Aurora borealis, aka northern lights, at Ny-Alesund science village in polar night of mid-January Kongsfjorden.

The Northern Lights dance over the science village of Ny-Ålesund, where researchers on the Deep Impact project conducted some studies. Credit: Randall Hyman

The Northern Lights dance across the horizon in emerald and lavender ribbons as the R/V Helmer Hanssen cruises through one of the darkest regions of the planet in the heart of winter. For more than a dozen researchers on this two-week voyage, the mission is simple but profound: to disappear.

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Nature 616, 238-241 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00976-4

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