a niger the fruitless tree starting january fourteenth on t w. and. aurora borealis the northern lights have fascinated mankind for millenia. some find them frightening others inspirational most when they experience them are simply overwhelmed. i think i mean what you see behind me is the reason we've come this far north there are a barrell is all northern lights this natural spectacle in the sky has fascinated humans for thousands of years many people now come here on holiday just to see and experience the lights for themselves. who are almost two hundred kilometers north of the arctic circle at kew roun abdul originally billed to support the mining industry these days most of the arrivals coming to work on the contrary jack hong for instance is a chinese student on holiday. and made. the journey continues by bus. people who have come from all around the world to experience something very special . jack kong who studies physics in the united states has been dreaming of this for a long time. to see an awesome lightning lawrence norden that incessant automaton and almost everything out of place where i can never sit here and that has haunted city and i was. in my whole life and i think that's where. the new arrivals are surprised by the darkness it's just two in the afternoon but it's already pitch black outside it's the polar night. and. their accommodation is cozy with simple rustic chalk. it's like a better quality youth hostel. and that's no wonder because it's run by the swedish youth hostel association. it's the top choice in town and it's been booked out for months. its northern lights seasonal biscoe. this is lorraine orbit school a remote village somewhere in lapland but not far from the swedish no we joined borda obis to around one hundred people and it's a very special place that's because of the northern lights you can find northern lights tourism in many other areas of the world but all bisque is considered the best place to experience the celestial phenomenal thence due to its location in a low precipitation microclimate. band. not part of the a pony and gate that's what they call these you shaped valley. it's a point of focus for visitors to lapland the mountains and sure that few clouds obscure the view of the northern lights. it's necessary to travel quite far north to see the northern lights the area around all business is situated in the wide expanses of lapland and that's north enough. freight trains from kew roona transport iron ore to the port of navi otherwise not much goes on up here. roughly one hundred residents who will be live directly on the railway line. and in the evening almost everyone in town meets at the only bar that means tourists and those who profit from the presence it's only recently that holiday makers started coming to see the northern lights and it was newcomers who recognized the economic potential of this celestial display the first time i saw the northern lights something in my brain changed something in my outlook changed and i think that's a reason people come here actually it was because when you see the northern lights for the first time. it makes you feel small it makes you understand how powerful the universe is. and a lot of times it helps you understand that your problems and all these things that seem like food in your world at any moment that truly aren't that big and when you see nature at its finest and that's what they are or it was. it puts everything into perspective and for me obviously has changed my perspective on life. and. now some fifteen thousand visitors make their way to a booth who every year to see the northern lights it's a very troubled boom that's good for the local businesses which now make decent money all winter long. it may be minus twenty degrees celsius but jet blakeley has to go to repair the web cam it broadcasts images of the northern lights all around the world the most recent footage was blue. three. i had to come up here tonight to adjust the settings the infinity focus was off just a tiny bit and i'm better of a perfectionist so i wanted it to the perfect. chant blakely is an american who's lived here for eight years captivated by the northern lights he and his swedish wife came up with an idea that transformed winter in all busy. on a good night we can have many many many thousands of people from all over the world looking at these pictures self i feel a bit of a responsibility to make sure that it stays running. people that don't have the ability to come to school get to see us through the eye of the lens plexiglas protects the delicate optical lens even in these optic temperatures this camera has turned life in this remote community upside down perhaps a little too much according to some. when he's out on the snowmobile chad blakeley always has the lights on better safe than sorry visibility is poor during winter in the arctic. the american from the state of missouri had to get used to that when he first came to the cold dark north . winter holiday makers stopped arriving in all biscoe in october to make sure these photos so far is too unpleasant challenge set up an old sound weak tent this is where the paying guests stay until the skylight south. from. the small firearms to the sense of adventure or bisque who used to be an insider's tip now it's a popular destination chad lately may benefit from the boom but he's also concerned that too much traffic could destroy the magic of the place i think my biggest challenges is making sure that as we grow and as the interest in all biscoe continues to spread that we continue to give really really good levels of experience you know one of the things that always goes really dealt with in the last couple years as we've had this boom is to make sure that the place doesn't have too many people or have of too many tours happening in a national park it's a very small area and i think our biggest challenge is to make sure that we don't love all this go to death and be a good what's the word a good shepherd and take good care of the place. it's a good idea to warm up the tent in advance of the evening session. hopefully the sky will be clear. chad blakely heads back to the village he still has a lot to do. blakeley of his photography courses and even provides cameras for the participants . guys my name is chad i'm going to be your guide tonight i'm going to be your storyteller your fire maker here aurora photographed teacher here your guy that teaches you a bit about space i'm going to make you a warm drink and hopefully we're all going to have a really nice time. we can go out and talk about camera settings all night long if you just want to take pictures we can also do that everybody should have brought an s.d. card that anyone not bring in s.d. card what a great group and there we have it ok guys so we'll start with the basics there are only two variables that we will have to change throughout the course of the evening and the way we change that is very simple if you look on the back of your camera here there's a wheel that you'll find by your thumb ok so on your camera you have a little lever here that goes back that's called the live you lever like us out of this group are almost entirely from asia you can just go one couple is from singapore just really hope that we can reuse of the camera and take the. aurora isn't super cool committee where we come from all but it's nice to to experience such with the ones in a way. this kind of cool if you know with a fellow. walking towards. venturing out into the darkness with chant snuff the cheap adventure. the three hour excursion at minus twenty five degrees costs around one hundred twenty euros per person so braithwaite has to be sure his customers get something for their money i want you to experiment with exposure take a fifteen second picture take a twenty second picture take a thirty second picture point the camera this way and you'll start to get your first aurora photographs but the reason we're going to experiment with those exposures is to see which exposure level you like the most the aurora is not super strong right now. now so as i turn the ring slowly slowly slowly it gets nice and sharp and now we turn the live you back off and once that's done your focus is set . yet no matter how hard he tries no a roar appears in the sky thirty seconds right now because you were a bit off when you first saw it and then on the ice we were in finland we were surprised that you can actually see like what you saw in the pictures media only could i but with a camera you know you can see much more clearly and you can go back to your friend and say well you were sitting on a couch i took a picture of another world yeah cool thing because the skies don't chant provides an alternative program everyone should feel the trip was worth it there we go on three one two three don't move. we also learn more about the scots ok about the milky way about the different styles and how i can surely see that picture as such stand out or us in this thought make up that if it's just like anyone else we might use it but it's i would use the other right of the piece. so maybe no one needs the cue so you might want to try and look in the southern part of the wood and so shall be recorded australia is. still there a little disappointed it's a long way to travel to look at the dark sky that's not why they came to a biscuit. chad and his wife linea off the tourists a variety of options in addition to photo tools. cleared up and yes from. what is this. it's. just. ok somebody rented some booze and. the webcam is working perfectly again now that chad's fixed it. i told her the picture on facebook this morning and in the last hour and a half it's been seen six thousand five hundred forty two from. the night's some and when you look here it's fun one. she actually will be school has become known around the world thanks to the internet from someone that had a really snowy night last night so it's easy to get a great review and yours are going strong on the slow nights. bigger or us it's the thing is you know i've said it a million times when people book a trip to go see the northern lights if they're going anywhere other than all the school day they often wonder am i going to see the lights and that's usually our biggest question. they might deserve a raise. but he can't guarantee any. thing apart from the freezing temperatures by the time winter comes to an end the couple have had enough of cold laflamme. their way we always try to go somewhere warm and really just relax but i actually promise linea this year i'm going to take a two week vacation with no phone no e-mail nothing and i i'm ninety nine percent confident that i will have the ability to opt to keep my word i certainly hope since. you live. in. spectacular sites like these are something every northern lights family should experience at least once you know life time regardless of how cold it is. in the evening chad wants to present the northern lights to his guests at last it's got me even colder and windy and there's nothing to see yet but plenty to talk about thriving a lot of times when we can explain something we don't understand something we immediately go to the spirit. if orion our constellations out there we would look up at the heavens and see the same thing next to the other and it sort of chad can wax lyrical about the magic of the or all of those and he enjoys doing so i think he's. in a new york stevens to be caught in that calling catching the no light and then be in the pit the know it's warm and everybody you know talking to and somewhere about the not like it's very enriching and lightning hand experience so i would definitely recommend to my friends. hydrogen. as the solar wind all the extras make the whole thing even more interesting but will the skyline jump. the group wants to be ready to go in case they have to hurry. on their. self see how i'd zoomed in on that and yet as i turn this focusing right you'll see there that gets a bit sharper but as soon as i got up i said just final adjustments to ensure the guests successfully capture images on that as de cards to take home with them. we're starting to. think. and you remember to take the picture just press that button right right i'll come back and check on you soon ok thank you anything let me know. and there they are the northern lights. everyone starts snapping pictures that are actually over to the right in from the north east i should say the east northeast we're starting to get something called a hydrogen arc to take a picture and then you look at it on the screen and if it needs to be adjusted you make those adjustments. i think still. are you ready for the long journey to get here has been worthwhile. three. nights and still very good. it's kind of spiritual. i think it's something that accounts from the sky. well you can explain from the scientific point of field but. i think. it's something that i'm sure a spec. and enjoy. the latin is also home to the saami an indigenous people who inhabit the arctic regions of scandinavia some a culture tradition that revolved around reindeer for centuries the sama lived as nomads and survived life in the cold many are still having difficulty finding their place in modern swedish society and not everyone is happy with the attention northern lights tourism has brought to the region but of the see it as a business opportunity. those who focus only on winter nights in all busy who will miss the chance to take in the region's stunning scenery as well as its reindeer they're an important part of summing culture to truly understand the indigenous people up here in the north it's necessary to understand the love of reindeer. hakan an ox on is expecting guests he's a reindeer breeder. when tourists first started coming here how khan was concerned about the negative consequences it might have on the environment and local people but now he enjoys telling visitors about sami culture and lifestyle. it's not a number of tourists it's just right. it's still not in the fleet that had only that spread out we don't get thousands of people in one place making a lot of noise which will clean your teeth and they come in small groups and stay in settled areas with an ox they only rolled on that that it would be another matter if complexes were built in the middle of nowhere. and give land were used just for that purpose make the news stand still. south lame. fifteen holiday makers who booked a tool for today. ok come over here please. when we used to love. to catch the reindeer. no we don't do like. what we do is make some loops like this. one intro you go like this. and hopefully the rain in that ring. old the guests are allowed to give it a try an excursion like this costs around two hundred twenty of us capacity it's something mental income for the saami money they can really use even if in the end has to catch the domesticated reindeer himself. this doesn't have much to do with the real life of the sammy. i hate the fact that we're going to put a little. island in play. by far fewer than. ever and it's. five thousand and some is still live from breeding reindeer and one to the north with us but they don't use traditional rain dia sleds like these anymore although the tourists love the short ride around the corral these days the some of them so's you snowmobiles. inside a traditional song we love who can show us some insights on how to survive in la plans on among us how to hunt moose for example for a thumb it's easy to sound like you may lose what you thought like you moved the sound a long distance and therefore you need to hold your hands like this. and the moves are more nothing all than me and there for you to hold to feel. ok all of them out. there with a come. off or off lot off off off. and then the female and just all the women ah ah ah ah ah ah was. not so much. not so much fish in the. reindeer ghoul nash is a typical dish how can tells his guests about some of traditions but he doesn't say anything about the northern lights there's a reason for that. because i like this doctor. we just talk about northern lights when it's dark and this is not dark yet if you keep the course and we must show the no daylight respectful way and therefore don't talk about northern lights in daylight driving strangers. and that's not just an act. is deadly serious right now it's time to warm their feet and reindeer meet with death fingerless it's an adventure to tell family and friends about at home. this some experience last three hours after that hawk on once again has the labo to himself in his co joe the aurora borealis has a mystical quality as of a older lads only in the lots of when i was little i was told to have respect for the northern lights. well that i wasn't allowed to shout a whistle or anything stupid like not when they were visible led from enough of my parents taught me that. his little man man among the language evolved through them so long ago the sunny believed that the lights and the nate from the souls of the dead man this was a people who had died in violent tragic way in the old sunsets on fancy someone or the queen. his ancestors perceived the lights in the sky as threatening but he prefers not to tell his guests about that. those who come to see the northern lights in northern sweden often arrive here in kiruna one of the biggest and most important towns in the region and while it's possible to see the northern lights in karuna to the people around here tend to be more interested he wants below ground and wants up in the sky kiruna is situated above one of the world's largest magnetite appetite deposits mining has been going on here for more than one hundred years and that's going to continue to ensure it can the entire town will be relocated in the coming years. they had wanted to wait for the snow to be gone but the winter in karuna is long this year the first houses are being demolished in the district of spirit which was largely home to families with children. beaver and col your hon mickey wants the demolition machinery with mixed feelings the neighborhood that was their home for decades will soon cease to exist. it's sad building something is one thing i demolish ing it has another it feels awful and i know you want to have area than all of that you know. even the car your home came here almost forty years ago with average temperatures a minus twenty and cold at home was more than just a place to stay during the long polar winters. it was a council of fortress for more than thirty five years our two children grew up in. the pit operator the state run company l k a b that's procured a new home for them kiruna is a mining town north of the arctic circle with a population of twenty three thousand it was founded in the year in one thousand nine hundred the world's largest continuous iron ore deposit lies beneath the town it said the pit is karuna the town wouldn't exist without the iron ore every day they always transported from here to nothing by freight train novick is the closest ice freeport on the west coast of norway the fact that the town is threatened by the mining activity became evident when cracks appeared in the ground more than ten years ago those responsible decided the whole town would have to be moved away from the dangerous cracks. this man helped design the new kiruna his model of the town is becoming a reality you hunt kos is aware that he's taking homes away from many people but there are no alternatives he says very very thick dust all for how we want to move the whole town two and a half kilometers east and this way there are a variety of reasons for that in this new location would allow us to keep some of the out to districts that are on threatened by the crack. and this location is also secure meaning we won't have to move the town again. urban planning cost shows us the old wooden ship which it will be destroyed it will be moved into the heart of the town and important to many residents. with her sure goals of the church is our grandest building will dismantle it bit by bit and reassemble it every component has to be labeled not subsequently crucial. as another highly respected establishments not far from here it's said to be demolished the restaurants vowed to be on the block that it's a meeting place for those who want ready to go home at the end of the shift if i make he appreciates the hearty home cooked fare with second helpings your wife. i came to chiru nair in one nine hundred seventy fool this restaurant was already head back then it looked different but we always came half a lunch or we bought sandwiches for breakfast. the that barry's simply part of carolina that so they take it or not. but it may not be that way for much longer. that this is a worker's restaurant i don't know if anything like this is included in the plans for the new town and the rents will also be much higher there. met a peterson doesn't know what will happen yet but she knows the wrecking crew will be right eventually the enormous project is only said to be completed by twenty thirty three. the move will cost more than three hundred twenty million euros and yet it's worth demolishing kiruna and building it again the iron ore deposits should continue to generate huge profits for decades one person who's not happy about the move is going to sell by a local politician and a member of the liberal centrist party suburb is concerned that the new kiruna may be built on contaminated land. out of the open is me exact there is one stood on the location where they plan to build and there was also a pit that mine water was pumped into the pool it might contain have a metal such as arsenic cobalt nickel and other hazardous substances but it did fall again not many other thus far. is one of the few critical voices most of the residents accepted to varying degrees a phone call your one mickey and made a new home for themselves in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town the new place is bigger and not much more expensive we were able to express our wishes about the size of our home and its location the mining company tried to take our design has into account it all depended on how long you had been working for the man. but there's new flat has to become the new home in a new town. they're waiting for the next wave of families to move from the old kiruna. the road that many scientists studying the northern lights even though they significantly impact people all over the world. who've been brunt's through him has been evaluating data in his lab for many years . her. every ororo is preceded by a solar storm when the particles of the solar storm reach the earth's upper atmosphere force fields are created waves of light can be seen around the north and south poles because the electrons are attracted to the magnetic fields that mixed with gases in the atmosphere they do lower the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere determines whether the light appears blue or green you know violent. the most efficient we have to understand how not to behave as plus a large proportion of not saying the universe is in the plasma state and that it's important to understand how events in space influence us and that they can badly damaged our technical system from satellites to radio systems power lines and pipelines pipelines. there are no words for never before the cameras are the best tools for scientists to examine and evaluate what happens. and there's a problem if the family shows his love of the northern lights although at some point even the most passionate scientist needs a break from the spectacle in the sky. you know my family takes an interest of course and they've seen the old all run many times but once in a while someone will say hey for the northern lights were really great yesterday and i don't want to know about it on the day off that the family of a lost. nevertheless globe on bromst room is captivated by the natural phenomena in the sky even after all these years. outside kiruna it feels quite desolate. desolate and nearly impassable. that's why bromst redmond his colleagues have to complete the final kilometers in snow shoes half a meter of snow fell in recent weeks the forest is a winter wonderland ancient spruce trees and virgin nature the two scientists from the institute for space physics regularly inspect the small hop in the wilderness it's vitally important the northern lights can be observed very well from this dock location with a special camera. studying the all role rajoub says to better understand the solar system in space weather. it can cause problems with technical systems on earth. but first they have to restore the view la bamba runs through him grew up in lapland even as a child he found the aurora borealis fascinating. the aurora borealis has become his life's work. he says the northern lights camp become addictive. then a few days ago we gather some very interesting data it's only on this hard drive so we have to make another copy and get it to our lab as quickly as possible a fellow before. they check their camera and then they take the new data back to the land. not far from here is one of the most extraordinary places in swedish lapland estrange space center. it's not quite as big as cape canaveral in the u.s. state of florida but they launch proper rockets into space here to. whom brown strum is a regular visitor and becomes to talk shop and have a look at new equipment to. think you know because there's no sign of the box no not noticed and though i don't think it is. victor. from india and. slept. the scientists share information and work together especially before a rocket among them will. be and they're the biggest challenge is ensuring that sold the electronic equipment works and that it doesn't overheat and that the mechanisms would feel so much could go wrong but that's why we have to check and double check things constantly have. they been launching rockets from here since one thousand nine hundred sixty six symbol research on behalf of the european space agency with the aim of learning more about the optics atmosphere. i. mean fictional that i had out there had mike but my task is to take measurements on the ground and pictures of the northern lights which allow us to create three dimensional images of the light phenomena i think i might you know if i had them and then compare those with data collected in the atmosphere it's great the rockets shoot right through the plus thing at. the fool launching the rocket they send up a balloon with measuring instruments. it's to determine whether the conditions are in fact ideal. it's looking good. then it's time for the countdown ha ha. ha. ha. to. a perfect launch the research rocket gathers data and sends it back to ground control before it burns up and. the scientists in the control center it as range are at least as proud as that colleagues at nasa. ones they've evaluated the results they're hoping they'll understand the northern lights only effect they have on earth even better. the. experience in the behold the experts who claim that in a few years' time the northern lights won't be so visible to the sun's activity will diminish. nevertheless people will probably continue to travel to play these cold northern parts to experience the northern lights he's a fascinating and truly unique natural phenomenon i might even that to a friend of mine. when the sky lights up like this it captivates everyone it's impossible not to be fascinated by this incredible spectacle. she wanted to see. the success of the idea. but ultimately never got to wear one. now a good book better than design is to fulfill the deepest desire. i mean a decrease. thirty minutes. i think there's a real meaning for journalism that people trust that can make sense of all this and can explain what's actually happening i became a journalist because i wanted to be a storyteller and i want to find those real authentic stories about everyday people who have something to share and it's not just about being fear better words or being neutral it's about being truthful. i want to show that even though we're all different there is an generosity condition that connects us and i want to give the younger generation if not for me to express themselves freely be what they want to be i'm great they're close to. me for mines. d.w. news live from the world starts to ring a new year the clock has just struck midnight in some parts of asia what you're seeing here is pictures salute your celebrations from hong kong.