Life and Light at the Dead of Night

Abstract

The Polar Night has a unique beauty. The aurora borealis, the moonlight, the faint glow of the sun behind white mountains, and, not the least, the mysteries of the living creatures that we have found in the Polar Night – this, in addition to the many scientific discoveries that have radically changed our perception of what the Polar Night is, inspired us to make an exhibition aimed at the general public. It opened at Polarmuseet in Tromsø in January 2015 with the title “Life and Light in the Dead of Night,” and was our attempt to communicate not only the surprising discoveries we had made regarding organisms and processes that govern the high Arctic Polar Night but, in essence, also how important light is as a cue for all life, even in the dead of the Polar Night. Since its opening in Tromsø, the exhibition has been at display (Fig. 11.l) at several museums and cities in the US (Washington, Anchorage, Boston, and Delaware), Canada (Ottawa, St. Johns), Russia (Russian-translated version in Moscow and St. Petersburg), and Norway (Tromsø, Longyearbyen, and Trondheim). Here, we present the 27 original posters that are the backbone of the exhibition. The text accompanying each figure is not updated and may in some cases not fully describe current status of knowledge. Yet the texts and figures still represent key aspects, important discoveries, and the breadth of marine life in the dark Polar Night.