Location Information

The Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO) is located at 67° 22' N, 26° 38' E, 120 km north of the Arctic Circle and 7 km south of Sodankylä, in central Lapland on the beautiful banks of the river Kitinen.

Access to Sodankylä:

By plane

Sodankylä is easiest to reach from Rovaniemi airport, about 120 km south from Sodankylä. There are connections from Helsinki (Finnair, Norwegian) and from Riga/Tampere (AirBaltic). More information about the timetables can be found from the web sites of the airlines.
Kittilä and Ivalo airports has also connection to Helsinki, but there is no public transportation available to Sodankylä and rental car is needed to reach Sodankylä

Some flights are linked with bus connections to Sodankylä. Here is a link for bus timetables. For connections to the airport, you should make sure to select Place of departure: "Rovaniemi lentoasema (Rovaniemi)".

All major car rental companies are also available at the airports.

During the meeting at least next flights are available: Arriving to the meeting:

Sun 12 June:
Finnair AY 429 16:20 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 17:40
Norwegian DY5628 19:05 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 20:25
Finnair AY 439 20:30 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 21:45

Mon 13 June:
Finnair AY 421 07:35 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 08:50
Norwegian DY5622 10:05 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 11:25
( Finnair AY427 12:05 Helsinki - Rovaniemi 13:20 )
Note: it takes about 2 hours to get from Rovaniemi airport to SGO.

Departure flights from Rovaniemi (RVN-HEL):

Tue 14 June:
Finnair AY 430 18:05 (arrivl time to Helsinki 19:20)

Wed 15 June:
Finnair AY 422 09:15 (10:30)
Norwegian DY5623 11:50 (13:10)
Finnair AY 428 13:50 (15:10)
Finnair AY 430 18:05 (19:20)

By train

It is also possible to come by train from Helsinki (via Oulu and Kemi) to Rovaniemi. There are 2 night trains and 2 day trains every day. See the web pages of Finnish Railways for more information. All trains link with buses to Sodankylä.

About Sodankylä:
Sodankylä is one of the biggest local centres in Lapland with a population of about 9,000 and a surface area of 12,400 km². The most important research organizations located here are the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, which belongs to the University of Oulu, the Arctic Research Centre of Finnish Meteorological Institute and the EISCAT receiver site.

About Finland:
Finland is a member of the European Union and the local currency is EURO (€). The population of Finland is just under 5.3 million.

Climate:
The time of the midnight sun lasts from 30^th May to 15^th July, and the polar night lasts from 19^th to 25^th December. The mean temperature in January is -14°C and in July +15°C. The snow cover usually lasts from 30^th October to 15^th May. There are about 150 nights of auroral displays per year and the probability of seeing aurora around the equinoxes is very high - provided the sky is clear.

Activities:
The main cultural event of the Sodankylä is Midnight Sun Film Festival, which fills the village of Sodankylä by festival guests. This year the annual festival takes place from Wednesday 15 June to Sunday 19 June 2011. Films are presented in three different places starting in Wednesday evening. The films are presented over night, so you have chance to enjoy films and real Midnight Sun. Hotels for the festival are already full-booked, but we have guest rooms for those are interested to stay in Sodankylä bit longer and enjoy the athmospere of the festival.