Norway: A natural research laboratory
Norway's, and in particular northern Norway's, geographical and cultural characteristics represents a
natural laboratory for studying the impact of natural daylight variations on behavior and biology. Norway's location in the extreme north, across a large range of latitudes, with a homogenous
population, with low migration rates contribute to this.
The extreme north
Latitude 71oN at the northern tip of Norway crosses King Christian X Land in northern
Greenland, splits the Baffin Island in north Canada, and touches the northern tip of Alaska at
Point Barrow, far north of Fairbanks. In western Russia it passes north of Siberia and cuts the
southern tip of Novaja Zemlja. From the Norwegian city of Hammerfest, at 70.4oN, you will need
more than one hour by air flight straight south to reach the latitude of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik,
at 64.1oN.
Because of its extreme northern latitude, natural daylight exposure in Norway varies extremely
across seasons. In the city of Tromsø (69.4oN) the sun does not set from mid May to late July
(midnight sun period) and does not rise from mid November to late January (dark season).
Large range of latitudes
The country stretches across 13 degrees of latitude, from Lindesnes at 58.0oN to North Cape at
71.1oN. In the USA this compares to the latitudinal distance from Walrus Islands at 58.5oN at the
southern tip of Alaska to Point Barrow at 71.2oN at the northern tip, or in more southern terms,
from Daytona Beach (29.1oN), Florida, to Boston (42.2oN), Massachusetts. Because of its large range of latitudes, natural daylight exposure in Norway varies extremely
across the country.
Homogenous population
In contrast to most western industrialized societies, the Norwegian population is extremely
homogenous in terms of race, culture, language, economy, education, and standard of living.
From a researcher's point of view this is an advantage because sources and range of possible
uncontrolled variation in the dependent variable may be substantially reduced.
Norway has cities at all latitudes from 58oN to 70oN. Among Norway's 4 million inhabitants,
approximately 500.000 live in Northern Norway, 60.000 in Tromsø. There is no such spread of
human beings elsewhere at such northern latitudes.
The lifestyle of modern western industrialized societies is made possible at such high latitudes
because of (a) warm ocean streams, particularly the Gulf stream, which pass close to the long
Norwegian coastline and (b) the policy of all Norwegian governments, which since the World War
II has been to support district and rural habitation.
Low migration rate
National and municipality population registers in Norway are almost complete and migration rates
extremely low. This facilitate research requiring multiple repeated measurements across long
periods of time.
