Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway
According to a famous hypothesis, Viking sailors could navigate along the latitude between Norway and Greenland by means of sky polarization in cloudy weather using a sun compass and sunstone crystals. Using data measured in earlier atmospheric optical and psychophysical experiments, here we determi...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10831/66655 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172187 |
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fteotvoslorandun:oai:edit.elte.hu:10831/66655 2023-05-15T16:26:39+02:00 Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway Száz, D Horváth, G 2018 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10831/66655 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172187 unknown http://hdl.handle.net/10831/66655 doi:10.1098/rsos.172187 elte:000431110100055 elte:85045345177 elte:3365702 elte:4 elte:R SOC OPEN SCI elte:ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE elte:5 elte:29765673 elte:10082783 LOMS: https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/bitstream/10831/66655/1/3365702.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2018 fteotvoslorandun https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172187 2022-08-24T23:23:49Z According to a famous hypothesis, Viking sailors could navigate along the latitude between Norway and Greenland by means of sky polarization in cloudy weather using a sun compass and sunstone crystals. Using data measured in earlier atmospheric optical and psychophysical experiments, here we determine the success rate of this sky-polarimetric Viking navigation. Simulating 1000 voyages between Norway and Greenland with varying cloudiness at summer solstice and spring equinox, we revealed the chance with which Viking sailors could reach Greenland under the varying weather conditions of a 3-week-long journey as a function of the navigation periodicity ∆t if they analysed sky polarization with calcite, cordierite or tourmaline sunstones. Examples of voyage routes are also presented. Our results show that the sky-polarimetric navigation is surprisingly successful on both days of the spring equinox and summer solstice even under cloudy conditions if the navigator determined the north direction periodically at least once in every 3 h, independently of the type of sunstone used for the analysis of sky polarization. This explains why the Vikings could rule the Atlantic Ocean for 300 years and could reach North America without a magnetic compass. Our findings suggest that it is not only the navigation periodicity in itself that is important for higher navigation success rates, but also the distribution of times when the navigation procedure carried out is as symmetrical as possible with respect to the time point of real noon. © 2018 The Authors. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Eötvös Loránd University: ELTE Digital Institutional Repository (EDIT) Greenland Norway Royal Society Open Science 5 4 172187 |
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Open Polar |
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Eötvös Loránd University: ELTE Digital Institutional Repository (EDIT) |
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fteotvoslorandun |
language |
unknown |
description |
According to a famous hypothesis, Viking sailors could navigate along the latitude between Norway and Greenland by means of sky polarization in cloudy weather using a sun compass and sunstone crystals. Using data measured in earlier atmospheric optical and psychophysical experiments, here we determine the success rate of this sky-polarimetric Viking navigation. Simulating 1000 voyages between Norway and Greenland with varying cloudiness at summer solstice and spring equinox, we revealed the chance with which Viking sailors could reach Greenland under the varying weather conditions of a 3-week-long journey as a function of the navigation periodicity ∆t if they analysed sky polarization with calcite, cordierite or tourmaline sunstones. Examples of voyage routes are also presented. Our results show that the sky-polarimetric navigation is surprisingly successful on both days of the spring equinox and summer solstice even under cloudy conditions if the navigator determined the north direction periodically at least once in every 3 h, independently of the type of sunstone used for the analysis of sky polarization. This explains why the Vikings could rule the Atlantic Ocean for 300 years and could reach North America without a magnetic compass. Our findings suggest that it is not only the navigation periodicity in itself that is important for higher navigation success rates, but also the distribution of times when the navigation procedure carried out is as symmetrical as possible with respect to the time point of real noon. © 2018 The Authors. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Száz, D Horváth, G |
spellingShingle |
Száz, D Horváth, G Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
author_facet |
Száz, D Horváth, G |
author_sort |
Száz, D |
title |
Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
title_short |
Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
title_full |
Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
title_fullStr |
Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: Revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from Norway |
title_sort |
success of sky-polarimetric viking navigation: revealing the chance viking sailors could reach greenland from norway |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10831/66655 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172187 |
geographic |
Greenland Norway |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Norway |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10831/66655 doi:10.1098/rsos.172187 elte:000431110100055 elte:85045345177 elte:3365702 elte:4 elte:R SOC OPEN SCI elte:ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE elte:5 elte:29765673 elte:10082783 LOMS: https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/bitstream/10831/66655/1/3365702.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172187 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
172187 |
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1766015586094022656 |