David Suzuki returned to the North in February to film a documentary on the Northern Lights for The Nature of Things.
An upcoming special episode of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki called The Wonder of the Northern Lights will explore the science behind the phenomenon – and it’s all filmed in the Northwest Territories.
The documentary, shot by a team of Canadian and British filmmakers, looks into what causes the aurora borealis, why they display certain colours, a newly-discovered aurora phenomenon known as "Steve," traditional Dene stories on the lights and whether they can help scientists find life on other planets.
The show will air on CBC on Sunday, Jan. 13, and will also be available to watch on the network’s website and mobile app.
"It’s not to diminish the romance of the aurora by explaining it," said director Tom Ranson. "It’s to enhance it."The crew was filming in February and faced some challenges with the climate.
Ranson felt the chill first-hand.
"I’d experienced the cold but this was definitely another level," said Ranson, who is also a writer and producer. "The conditions were something new to us, being Brits."
The logistical challenges went further than just the cold, as anyone who’s tried to photograph the lights can attest.
"You’ve got so many unknowns in filming northern lights and we were filming real genuine scientific experiments happening real time," said Ranson.
The decision to film on lakes near Yellowknife was made by some of the show’s co-stars: a group of scientists from the University of Calgary led by Eric Donovan, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Chris Ratzlaff, one of the lead faces of the Alberta Aurora Chasers.
Ratzlaff and his community helped find, identify and name "Steve," a band of violet light that lingers in skies—south of 60, mostly—after the aurora have faded. The show aims to shed some light on what could be causing the spectacular celestial phenomenon and the contributions of citizen-scientists.
"The advent of ... digital cameras on mobile phones has increased the data exponentially because everyone can take a picture now," added Ranson.
Executive producer Alan Handel said their goal was to educate people on the emerging science behind the northern lights.
"We all experienced it as a kind of a marvellous part of nature," he said.
News/North was unable to schedule an interview with Suzuki by press time but Handel says the host’s favourite theme of the show is that citizen scientists—the aurora-obsessed hobbyists—are really leading the charge on researching the phenomenon and Northerners are well positioned to do this.