Norlys is a non-profit, experimental application project that was born in 2023 out of the cooperation between Hugo Lageneste and Adrien Mauduit. Norlys stands for ‘Ny Oval Representasjon av nordLYS’, which translates from Norwegian to ‘New oval representation of northern lights’.

Hugo is a young and talented IT engineer with a passion for the world, nature and the northern lights. Adrien is a M.Sc. and seasoned aurora chaser with more than 10 years of experience under his belt.

The primary focus of the application was to create a novel way of nowcasting the aurora. While there are only very few open-access tools that are currently doing that, they often report on the auroral activity across too scattered and too numerical graphs. As a rationale, it has been demonstrated that aurora chasers lack a more practical way to know at a glance where the aurora is and what it is doing. That’s where the ambitious idea behind norlys was born. Using ionospheric equivalent currents derived from magnetometer data, we were able to compute an algorithm that translates with a certain degree of accuracy local magnetospheric activity into real-time auroral activity. This enables us to not only place the poleward and equatorward boundaries of the auroral oval but also to identify the aurora intensity (and to some degree the type of activity) based on the latest scientific understandings. The project is only experimental for now and makes various assumptions based on current scientific consensus. The model has been tested for Europe, Iceland, Greenland and north America to evaluate its robustness. We will continue to monitor its accuracy while making adjustments and implementing new features over the next years. If successful, the project could well be extended to other parts of the world where geomagnetic data is readily available. We also hope that our model will serve as a basis for scientific studies and developments in the future.

As the idea of the model was taking shape, we didn’t want to stop there. How about giving the user the opportunity to forecast the aurora in a novel way?

For aurora chasers in the field, we presented the model on the home page, in addition to an easy-to-access, quick-look, scroll-down section dedicated to aurora chasing conditions including major space weather alerts, simplified solar wind data, Sun & moon calendars and weather conditions.

For new-comers and beginners, we created a simple, didactic, step-by-step guide to space weather in which users can learn, monitor and forecast the activity at 4 levels: the Sun, the solar wind, the magnetosphere and the aurora. (‘Space Weather’)

For the more experienced users, we created a tab (‘Solar Wind’) dedicated to monitoring real-time solar wind data as a quick-look, practical field tool. This page computes NOAA SWPC data into an interactive graph tailored for aurora chasers.

Last but not least, we created a page (‘Dashboard’) where more experienced users can build their own dashboard. If you have been chasing the aurora for some time, you know how frustrating it can be to navigate between the different tools and space weather sources on your device. In this advanced dashboard, we leave the user to pick from a comprehensive pool of apps (Sun imagery, models, graphs, celestial, webcams, weather…) and literally model their own ‘war room dashboard’. The app not only remembers your dashboard until next time but it also updates everything without the user needing to refresh the page. With this in hand, it becomes so much easier to navigate space weather data and monitor what’s happening from the Sun’s surface to the Earth’s atmosphere.

The norlys app has been built from the ground up on our free time without any external financial help. The sole goal of our project is to move the aurora-chasing field forward and therefore not to generate any profit. Our app is and will remain entirely free of charge with no advertisement, no data-tracking and no direct or indirect revenue. In the future, we may be open to receiving donations solely to relieve server costs and potential future developments.

Our team declines any responsibility for data errors, mistakes and typos. We are working relentlessly to improve the app and we encourage you to report any error that you see by contacting us at [email protected].

All official content available on our website (norlys.live) may be used, copied, shared, transferred, or annotated strictly for private, non-commercial use, provided such content is in image form.

Sharing official Norlys content on social media platforms is permitted, provided the content remains in image form and includes a visible reference to https://norlys.live on the same material.

Any data owned by norlys.live that is not in image or screenshot form may not be used, shared, or distributed without prior written consent from norlys.live.

All other materials generated by Norlys are strictly prohibited from being used, shared, transferred, copied, altered, distributed or commercialized without explicit prior authorization from norlys.live. This includes but is not limited to any direct or indirect commercial use in any media, embedding norlys material into other platforms / websites or using any norlys material in films, books, public or private presentations, festivals…