On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers
Between AD 900 and AD 1200 Vikings, being able to navigate skillfully across the open sea, were the dominant seafarers of the North Atlantic. When the Sun was shining, geographical north could be determined with a special sundial. However, how the Vikings could have navigated in cloudy or foggy situ...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 2024-06-23T07:50:36+00:00 On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers Horváth, Gábor Barta, András Pomozi, István Suhai, Bence Hegedüs, Ramón Åkesson, Susanne Meyer-Rochow, Benno Wehner, Rüdiger 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 366, issue 1565, page 772-782 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 journal-article 2011 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 2024-06-10T04:15:15Z Between AD 900 and AD 1200 Vikings, being able to navigate skillfully across the open sea, were the dominant seafarers of the North Atlantic. When the Sun was shining, geographical north could be determined with a special sundial. However, how the Vikings could have navigated in cloudy or foggy situations, when the Sun's disc was unusable, is still not fully known. A hypothesis was formulated in 1967, which suggested that under foggy or cloudy conditions, Vikings might have been able to determine the azimuth direction of the Sun with the help of skylight polarization, just like some insects. This hypothesis has been widely accepted and is regularly cited by researchers, even though an experimental basis, so far, has not been forthcoming. According to this theory, the Vikings could have determined the direction of the skylight polarization with the help of an enigmatic birefringent crystal, functioning as a linearly polarizing filter. Such a crystal is referred to as ‘sunstone’ in one of the Viking's sagas, but its exact nature is unknown. Although accepted by many, the hypothesis of polarimetric navigation by Vikings also has numerous sceptics. In this paper, we summarize the results of our own celestial polarization measurements and psychophysical laboratory experiments, in which we studied the atmospheric optical prerequisites of possible sky-polarimetric navigation in Tunisia, Finland, Hungary and the high Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic North Atlantic The Royal Society Arctic Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366 1565 772 782 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
Between AD 900 and AD 1200 Vikings, being able to navigate skillfully across the open sea, were the dominant seafarers of the North Atlantic. When the Sun was shining, geographical north could be determined with a special sundial. However, how the Vikings could have navigated in cloudy or foggy situations, when the Sun's disc was unusable, is still not fully known. A hypothesis was formulated in 1967, which suggested that under foggy or cloudy conditions, Vikings might have been able to determine the azimuth direction of the Sun with the help of skylight polarization, just like some insects. This hypothesis has been widely accepted and is regularly cited by researchers, even though an experimental basis, so far, has not been forthcoming. According to this theory, the Vikings could have determined the direction of the skylight polarization with the help of an enigmatic birefringent crystal, functioning as a linearly polarizing filter. Such a crystal is referred to as ‘sunstone’ in one of the Viking's sagas, but its exact nature is unknown. Although accepted by many, the hypothesis of polarimetric navigation by Vikings also has numerous sceptics. In this paper, we summarize the results of our own celestial polarization measurements and psychophysical laboratory experiments, in which we studied the atmospheric optical prerequisites of possible sky-polarimetric navigation in Tunisia, Finland, Hungary and the high Arctic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Horváth, Gábor Barta, András Pomozi, István Suhai, Bence Hegedüs, Ramón Åkesson, Susanne Meyer-Rochow, Benno Wehner, Rüdiger |
spellingShingle |
Horváth, Gábor Barta, András Pomozi, István Suhai, Bence Hegedüs, Ramón Åkesson, Susanne Meyer-Rochow, Benno Wehner, Rüdiger On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
author_facet |
Horváth, Gábor Barta, András Pomozi, István Suhai, Bence Hegedüs, Ramón Åkesson, Susanne Meyer-Rochow, Benno Wehner, Rüdiger |
author_sort |
Horváth, Gábor |
title |
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
title_short |
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
title_full |
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
title_fullStr |
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers |
title_sort |
on the trail of vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by viking seafarers |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic North Atlantic |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 366, issue 1565, page 772-782 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0194 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
366 |
container_issue |
1565 |
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772 |
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782 |
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1802641505142177792 |