RESULTS OF THE MARCH 2026 AURORA VIEWING EXPEDITION TO ICELAND

By Paul D. Maley

From Hvolsvuller, Iceland March 15, 2026. Rob photo with Nikon D850

From Guesthouse Lysuholl March 22 by Michelle with Iphone 17 Pro. Yes, everything is in focus (compare the mountain). Sometimes auroras look fuzzy. Notice the purplish background. Then look at the next image.

From Guesthouse Lysuholl March 22 by  Pat photo with Iphone 17 Pro.  Notice the unique blue beams.

This was our second Iceland photo expedition which included myself and 9 others from March 14-23.  Temperatures during the period were mainly between 25 and 35 deg F.  We had two good nights for the entire group, though several tour members used our final night to drive outside of town and got a brief performance of Northern Lights outside Reykjavik. This web page contains images from this very successful trip.  Any reader considering travel to Iceland will likely find the contents of this page useful in your trip expectations and planning.  Photos shown without attribution were taken by Paul D. Maley.

Note: all photos are shown as submitted. The visual impression is rarely the same as that obtained from a camera with the latter revealing the most detail. Also when the aurora are in motion you are likely to see a smeared image. Colors are more revealed in a photo rather than by the naked eye.  You will be able to see that the photos taken with the Iphone 17 Pro are quite excellent and are so far the best aurora-performing smart phone that I have seen up to this time. 

At the start of the trip on the night of March 13 Lynn and I flew first flew from Phoenix to Minneapolis, then Minneapolis to Reykjavik, Iceland.  The routing is best illustrated by the next image.

From the air. Paul’s photos.

I used my Samsung S24 phone to take the image above.  Shooting aurora from an aircraft window with internal reflections from the wing lights is tough; this image was taken from seat 4F looking to the southeast when the aircraft was over southern Greenland. I could see aurora out this window for 4.5 hours straight out of the 5.5 hour flight.  Reflections hampered most of my photos.  What I saw indicated that the aurora oval dipped significantly down from its normal configuration since I would have expected aurora only to be seen from the north facing windows.

FIRST AURORA SIGHTING NIGHT FROM THE GROUND (MARCH 15)

March Iceland group photo coordinated by Rob. Left to right: Paul,  Bob, Robyn, Pat, Michelle, Lynn, Carol, Wayne, Giovanni, and Rob.

On day 2 of the trip we were at a new hotel in Holsvollur and as the Northern Lights go, they start typically with a whimper and expand progressively. The display lasted over an hour.

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Photos above by Rob with Nikon D850, 14-24mm, f/2.8. Green was the primary color noticed visually as well as photographically.

Photo above from Pat with Iphone 17 Pro

Here are 3 of my images with the bright dot in the northwest quadrant being Jupiter.

 Above 3 images out of 63 that I shot from Holsvollur, Iceland. Paul’s photos with Nikon D3100, 8mm lens, f/3.5

However, there are some things that are not always apparent.  Many first time aurora viewers may believe that both aurora and weather forecasts may be correct but infact they are generally not. If it is cloudy always consider the possibility that it can clear up at any time during the night. Kp index predictions are also unreliable: some come true, others do not; aurora can appear for a matter of seconds or minutes or hours. They can vary in both brightness and speed: that is the colors can remain at basic green or during a performance they can vary their colors from green to pink to purple, blue, white or even black.  If the entire sky is clear do not necessarily expect auroras to be seen only in the northern part of the sky.   In other words, expect anything to happen or not to happen. We had one clear night where a big Northern Lights storm was predicted. Instead, nothing happened. The sky was clear but not an aurora was seen!

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SECOND AURORA SIGHTING NIGHT (MARCH 21): STARTLING OBSERVATIONS MADE BETWEEN ~330 AND 500AM

When we arrived at Guesthouse Lysuholl it was cloudy after dinner and the weather was predicted to be cloudy all night. However, some time after 2am the sky cleared and by habit I looked out the window and saw what was happening–bright aurora! I knocked on the rooms adjacent to me and headed outside. Sure enough we had a nice display that lasted for about 1.5 hours.  But there was something truly extraordinary about this particular aurora viewing session. After 14 years of leading these expeditions (30 to Alaska and 1 previous to Iceland) I saw something that I had never seen before. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen an account of it.  I had to rub my eyes thinking that there might be something wrong with my vision.  At some point during the watch the aurora had the appearance of a group of broken irregular white clouds.  Our lodge was not too far from a roadway.  I began to see what looked like brief flashes across the ‘clouds’ in a preferential direction — the south.  These flashes were on the order of 2 to 5 per second and migrated from the south to the north. They were more like brightenings than flashes. I thought perhaps it was caused by passing cars or trucks but there were none. They were only apparent as they moved across the white aurora clouds, not the black starry background.  I asked others to confirm by naked eye. At least two others saw what I saw but not everyone. I did what I could trying to photograph them but it proved useless.  Anyway, this was a memorable visual experience that I hope we can repeat on a future expedition.

There are other night time weather phenomena I have never seen: white aurora, black aurora, STEVE, airglow, green ghost, sprites, fogbows. But the pulsating aurora is unique.

Update: March 26

In attempting to find out if such a phenomenon was ever seen before here is the result of an AI search:

4.17am

4.19am

4.33am

4.43am

5.01am

Pat photo with Iphone 17 Pro. The beams were concentrated above the northeast horizon and had a purple/blue appearance. Notice also the purple/blue background around the left-most mountain. This remained the case through the observation period and were not seen/photographed in any other parts of the sky.

SMART PHONE BASED PHOTOS

Here are examples below using various Iphone models. Also five members of the group took an independent local tour to search for auroras.  They went to three different places and were able to capture the Northern Lights for a short time.

 

Carol used an Iphone 13 to record the above aurora images.

The above 3 images were taken by Michelle using an Iphone 17 Pro.

The above 2 images were taken by Pat with an Iphone 17 Pro.

AURORAS WITH AN ANDROID PHONE

Here is a deficient example of how my S24 Samsung phone recorded aurora without any adjustment.

Below is a very successful example of a Samsung smart phone

This is an impressive photo by Wayne the night of March 22 with a Samsung S21+ smart phone. This appearance is called an aurora corona. It occurs intense, active auroras occurring directly overhead, where charged particles from the sun—channeled by Earth’s magnetic field lines—strike the upper atmosphere and radiate light in all directions. This specific, “exploding” phenomenon happens when the viewer is directly underneath the magnetic field lines.

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH THE AURORA BASED ON WHAT WE LEARNED

There were 3 of us using an Android phone while the rest use other smart phone types. I used a DSLR.  After evaluating aurora images I am quite happy with my heavy DSLR but would prefer a light weight smart phone that was effective. The 3 Androids turned out to record less impressive imagery compared to the Iphone 17 Pro with one prominent exception.  This is a corona which only appears directly overhead. In this case it must have been intense and short lived but really indented itself in the exposure.

I asked Michelle and Pat to provide comments on their smart phone’s performance. Here is Michelle’s response.

We both used iPhone 17 Pro Max in night mode. Night mode defaults to 3 sec exposure, but can be manually set to 10 sec. If you take the picture and the iPhone detects zero movement – on a tripod – it will automatically shift to 30 sec exposure. Otherwise the best you can do while holding the iPhone very still is 10 secs. 

We both found the auroras all 3 nights we took pictures to be bright and dynamic enough that 10 secs was perfect. Even went to 3 a few times when they were especially bright. Most of the time it was too windy on the tripod for it to go a full 30 secs. I think Pat got a few, but are blurrier since the auroras were so dynamic. We downloaded a night camera app but using the built in iPhone camera app was just easier. 

Another tool I found very helpful was a MagSafe portable tripod mount, that sticks to the iPhone via the MagSafe back. It made holding the camera steady much much easier, especially while wearing gloves. I didn’t have the issue of my gloves accidentally covering the lenses, then pressing the button to take the picture was easier. This is the one I bought off Amazon but there are hundreds of them out there will different functionality. I just held the mount as shown in one of the Amazon pics.

Currently the MagSafe grip/mount from Joby for the iPhones that has a standard 1/4 inch attachment point on the bottom for use on pretty much any tripod.  That makes it easy to switch from a standard tripod to taking a handheld shot and then just easily sticking it back on the tripod via the MagSafe mount.

 

Pat had a Joby GorillaPod short tripod that he used a couple times and works well the MagSafe “head” attached to it.

Otherwise they used a bigger tripod fully extended with the winds that made for too much motion most of the time for long 30 sec exposures.

I hope this will help everyone on future aurora viewing attempts.

We were able to take dozens of photos during the trip and here are those most representative of the experience. These photos are not in time or location order.

Strokkur geysir in eruption.  This image captured by Michelle rose to nearly 100 ft.

 

Monument to novelist Jules Verne. If you are unfamiliar with ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ it began in 1864’s science fiction novel by Jules Verne about Professor Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans.  They travel through extinct Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull to a subterranean world filled with prehistoric life before returning to the surface in Italy via the Stromboli volcano.  Our  2027 eclipse cruise will do a ‘sail by’ of Stromboli on both ships. Rob photo.

Rock arch on the coast at Aranstapi. Robyn photo.

Approaching a lava flow from an eruption near the town of Grindavik that took place 2 years ago.

This is not a Grindavik ‘crack house’ but it is a house showing major structural cracks from the most recent eruption and associated earthquakes.

Vatnajokull glacier walk. Rob photo.

Footprints in the snow from an arctic fox—the only native land mammal in Iceland.

Strokkur geysir sitting there with 50 or so people waiting for it to erupt. Temperature around 25 degrees F. What you dont see is at least 50 other people on my side waiting as well. It was supposed to erupt every 7 minutes or so.  Finger on my Android phone without a glove just to get this shot.  I waited for 20 minutes before it generated a minor burp; I missed it.  My finger survived. Next time a special pair of gloves.

Strokkur geysir pools. Rob photo.

An Icelandic horse in pasture.

One hotel where if you forget your wifi password just open the door and look at your room number and it will be right there.

A second hand book store in Akureyri that also offers psychic advice (small sign in left upper window).

On a street in Reykjavik. Pat photo.

Not all bathrooms in stores are free to use.

Star trails and aurora over Fajalladyrd Guesthouse.  Rob photo.

Paul kicking a service robot in the United Airlines lounge in Denver after it ‘deliberately’ rammed him. Lynn photo.

Giovanni (on the ground) after an unsuccessful reindeer confrontation. The reindeer has been a fixture over the last two years at Guesthouse Fjalladyrd.  Michele photo.

Reindeer at the above guesthouse foraging in sight of what was described as the most popular mountain in all of Iceland; it was normall shrouded in cloud.  Rob photo.

What happened to my hiking shoes after all the hiking we did. Ice trapped between the sole and shoe. The shoes are now permanent residents of Iceland.

Large boulders from the eruption of the Eyafajallajokull volcano. The name has 16 letters and there are 16 boulders laid out in a line in this extensive memorial.

Rob deploying his drone to take imagery over a glacier.

One of many random waterfalls seen along the way. It is one of the smaller ones.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall 60m high. Rob photo.

Skogafoss Waterfall. Rob photo.

Hengifoss Waterfall mostly frozen. Rob Lovatt photo.

Godafoss Waterfall. Rob photo.

A view out the front of our 16 passenger bus at a typical snow/ice-covered main road. Highways outside Reykjavik are generally 2 lane: one in each direction. The yellow markers enable drivers to see where the road is in the event of heavy snow.

Tourist stops all have bathrooms that are in good condition with the normal amenities. There is also food/snack availability.

Geothermal bread being dug out of the ground above a thermally heated area of water. Carol photo.

Geothermal bread revealed out of the outside oven. Lynn photo.

Jokulsarlon Lagoon. Rob photo.

When a snow storm is coming at you it is self evident.

Sometimes you may not realize there is something unusual on a photo. This unique sun halo was photographed by Giovanni but was not obvious until the photo was enhanced.

Yes, whale and horse meat officially on the menu.  Cost of the horse fillet is about $46. whereas the french fries are about $10.

At Lysuholl Guesthouse they have herds of horses. We were allowed to participate in feeding them at one of their horse barns.  Icelandic horses are really incredible animals and this will now be our custom to get up close and personal on future trips.

Two dogs and a reindeer hang out at Guesthouse Fjalladyrd.

Fjalladyrd Guesthouse overview. Rob photo.

At the Lysuholl guesthouse two dogs have a ‘stare off’ with the local cat. Dogs lose.

There is such a thing as a ‘krap machine’.

The krap machine in Akureyri is located in the towns only mall in an ice cream store that features a dinosaur.

Some breakfast items out on the wilderness at the Lysuholl Guesthouse.

Easy to use wifi connections gave us nearly 100% wifi connectivity the entire trip inside the bus.

A typical AC connection (left plug) and USB connection next to the bed available in various locations depending in which guesthouse or hotel you are staying.

Kiosks are located in restaurants at the busiest tourist places where you place orders without human contact.

Typical Iceland wall plug with 3 ports that accommodate the European two prong adapter. My battery charger however found a home in this rare 110VAC connector next to a hair dryer.

The town of Akureyri (capital of north Iceland) designed their stop lights in the shape of hearts.

Namaskard boiling mud pot area normally cloud covered and smelling of sulfur.  Rob Lovatt photo.

The Gulfoss waterfall in a partially frozen state but still mighty.

Our guide holding one of many goats in a barn at a guesthouse.

A unique feature of our tour was to see how geothermal bread was made; then eating salmon and butter on the final product indoors away from the cold temps and wind.  Rob photo.

A constant sight along the road of numerous volcanic mountains and uplifts reveal layers of sediment accumulated over millions of years.

Snaefellsnes National Park shore scene. Rob photo.

Skaftafell National Park. Rob photo.

Hallsgrimskirkja church in Reykjavik. Rob photo.

Food prices are posted at all roadside restaurant locations which are typically inside gas stations.  Think twice the cost of your normal food prices since Iceland imports almost everything.

Soft drinks, beer, wine, etc. can be found in nearly all gas stations.

A typical guesthouse room consists of two single beds that may be pushed together, a closet of sorts, desk, chair and maybe a TV. No refrigerators!

A meal in first class. However, Icelandair is the primary carrier into the country and their meals may be better than other carriers but they do not have lie down flat seats, the space between seats in front and in back is smaller than anyone might expect meaning you find it difficult to even incline them. We could not use wifi as the system was down.

We operate Iceland tours in spring and fall when auroras have the highest likelihood of being seen. But when walking to the various tourist sites there is always slick ice and snow that require careful attention to walking. You need not only hiking poles but crampons especially if a high wind is blowing.

At one guesthouose we had to fight the wind that involved gusts to 78mph.  This was really difficult and working with a partner is important.

Photographing your checked bags is a good idea. We waiting a long time before bags appeared in Phoenix after making it from Reykjavik to Denver.  We never saw them come off the conveyer in Phoenix. As I began to fill out a missing bag report I happened to turn around and noticed that outside the baggage office of United Airlines our two bags were sitting there. United sent them on an earlier flight unbeknown to us.

At one stop I noticed a car driving over a snow-covered lake and a chair (lower left) stuck upside down in the ice.

The Blue Lagoon is actually milky and not true blue. It is famous but located over an area that could erupt at any time.

Black sand beach is a spot with ferocious wave activity. It is the place where scenes from the Clint Eastwood film “Flags of our Fathers” were filmed.

One great food lunch stop is at Pakkhus on the coast. Above is an octopus dish presentation.

Lobster tails

Garlic shrimp

Caviar pancakes

Our next Iceland adventures will be in October 2026 and March 2027.