The fleecy
clouds seen in Iceland by Thienemann, and which he considered to be the
northern light, have been seen in recent times by Franklin and Richardson
near the American north pole, and by Admiral Wrangel on the Siberian coast
of the Polar Sea. All remarked "that the Aurora flashed forth in the most
vivid beams when masses of cirrous strata were hovering in the upper regions
of the air, and when these were so thin that their presence could only be
recognized by the formation of a halo round the moon." These clouds
sometimes range themselves, even by day in a similar manner to the beams of
the Aurora, and then disturb the course of the magnetic needle in the same
manner as the latter. On the morning after every distinct nocturnal Aurora,
the same superimposed strata of clouds have still been observed that had
previously been luminous.*
[footnote] *John Franklin, 'Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the
Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-1822', p. 552 and 597; Thienemann in the
'Edinburgh Philosophical Journal', vol. xx., p. 336; Farquharson, in vol.
vi., p. 392, of the same journal; Wrangel, 'Phys. Beob.', s. 59. Parry even
saw the great arch of the northern light continue throughout the day.
('Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain', 1828, Jan.
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