Has anyone considered the possibility of light refraction whereby distant objects can be observed across the pole by refraction of light due to extremes of temperatures in the atmosphere? The is a recorded example from earlier times of the appearance of a distinctly european city on the northern skyline that persisted for a considerable time. A sketch was made of it. It was the correct way up, suggesting a double refraction or reflection and was quite stable. Tall buildings and church spires were clearly seen in a direction that lead towards the north pole area and thousands of miles away from any possible city of that type or size.

In the summer of 1897 the Duke of Abruzzi led an expedition to Mount Ellis on the Alaskan coast to examine a mirage reported by prospectors and indians. Each year between June 21 and July 10th a clear picture of a city was seen over the ice cap. A sketch was made and several people decided that it looked like Bristol England (my home town!) with its churches and spires. Bristol is 2,500 miles across the pole from the sighting.

A full report can be obtained from the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, volume 27, pages 158 to 159, April 1901. So perhaps moving lights are due to moving traffic in some distant city seen by the same effect, or landing lights of aircraft from a distant airport across the pole.

The message from Clive Holloway prompted me to mention this:

I live in Inuvik, and my 2nd floor deck overlooks the town and the Mackenzie Delta. One night this past winter I was able to see a reflected (refracted?) image of Aklavik, which is nearly 100 km away, and which I usually cannot see, even when I know where to look with binoculars. This last time however, I was able to make out as many as *five* images of the town, "stacked" on top of each other, and every second one was inverted. I didn't see the town, actually, but the lights, since the sun was not up then. This has only happened about twice before in the past three years.

Unfortunately, it did not go shooting up into the sky, but it was an interesting effect. The first time I saw it a few years ago, I thought it was a whole bunch of chartered aircraft on their way to Inuvik from Dawson, since they come over the Richardson Mountains around there, but I recognised the colors of the lights as being mostly sodium-vapor street lights.

I do frequently spot polar-orbiting satellites, but they're rather boring.

The light refraction theory does not sound plausable considering the changing atmospheric conditions encountered there or anywhere else. Add to that the continuous reports being filed and types of phenomena being observed ie: lights "following" people, "disk" shaped objects appearing in the sky with "lights" attached to them, vehicles stalling out when in the presence of clearly some type of aircraft etc..

That is not to say that some of it might be due to refraction I would think it not likely considering the overview of the types of events observed. There are many referances to refraction in the astronomical literature, an excellent book for someone interested in the atmosphere and the light shows therein would be : Aden&Marjorie Meinel's Sunsets, twilights, and evening skies published by Cambridge Press.