Brocken Spectre seen in Greenland

On a recent cruise to Greenland, I was walking out on deck and saw something I had never seen before. We were at Ilulissat on the west coast of Greenland. The cold August air from the ice fjord had helped to create a low mist over the water. As I looked down to the sea, I saw a coloured halo around my head! The picture shows my shadow and the halo (plus a bigger white halo around me).

As I walked along the deck, the halo came with me! Other passengers were amazed to see the same effect around their heads (but Liz did not get a halo)! Liz is not so tall and the hand rail disturbed the light rays.

The effect is a BROCKEN SPECTRE. Light from the Sun is blocked by me. As the light reflects back off the mist below me, it creates the coloured halo around my head. Mountaineers can see the same effect when they are above the clouds and look down to the cloud layer when the sun is behind them.

In mountains, where the distances are greater, the colour of the halo can be lost and a larger grey shadow forms. This looks like some giant ’being’ behind the person - as if it is creeping up stealthily. This has led to many a tale of mystical creatures in the mountains. Why the name Brocken Spectre? Brocken is the highest mountain in the Harz Mountains of Germany. During the Cold War, there was a listening post at the top of the mountain as it was close to the Iron Curtain in what was then East Germany. About 300 days a year, there are clouds and mists around the mountain and many a military person saw the effect - so it became known as the Brocken Spectre.

I walked out to see the Ilulissat Ice Fjord - a Unesco World Heritage Site. A vast, impressive area - you can see the mist in the distance. Within 2 minutes the ice fjord was lost to a dense fog. The sound of the ice breaking up and the splosh as it hit the water was very unusual. One beach area was cordoned off for fear of large icebergs breaking and creating a tidal wave. The ice fjord was the source of the cold air that formed the mist around the cruise ship earlier in the day.