A total solar eclipse occurred on March 20, 2015. A solar eclipse occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's

apparent diameter The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with a partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. This total solar eclipse is notable in that the path of totality passed over the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. Totality was visible in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

and Svalbard. It had a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0445. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes and 47 seconds off the coast of the

. It was the last total solar eclipse visible in Europe until the eclipse of August 12, 2026. The track of totality passed across the North Atlantic and into the Arctic Ocean.

Event

The solar eclipse began at 08:30 GMT in northwest Europe and moved towards the northeast but still in northern Europe. It was most visible from the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans,

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and Murmansk Oblast. The shadow began its pass off the south coast of Greenland. It then moved to the northeast, passing between Iceland and the United Kingdom before moving over the Faroe Islands and the northernmost islands of Norway. The shadow of the eclipse was visible in varying degrees all over Europe. For example, London experienced an 86.8% partial solar eclipse while points north of the Faroe Islands in the Norwegian Sea saw a complete solar eclipse. Three chartered airliners flew above the clouds, giving passengers a slightly prolonged view. The eclipse was observed at radio frequencies at the

Metsähovi Radio Observatory The Metsähovi Radio Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Finland, affiliated with the Aalto University. Its main premises are in Metsähovi, Kirkkonummi, 35 kilometers west of the university's Otaniemi campus. The observatory curr ...

, Finland, where a partial eclipse was seen. The eclipse was also observed by meteorological satellite Meteosat-10.

Impact

The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

has a

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

output of about 90

gigawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

s and production could have been temporarily decreased by up to 34 GW of that dependent on the clarity of the sky. In actuality the dip was less than expected, with a 13 GW drop in Germany happening due to overcast skies. This was the first time that an eclipse had a significant impact on the power system, and the electricity sector took measures to mitigate the impact. The power

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gr ...

(change in power) may be −400 MW/minute and +700 MW/minute. Places in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

may be 85.2% obscured.Solar Eclipse 2015 – Impact Analysis
pp3+6+7+13 . ''

European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators, represents 39 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 35 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. ENTSO-E was established and given legal mandates b ...

'', 19 February 2015. Accessed: 4 March 2015. Temperature may decrease by 3 °C, and

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

may decrease as winds are reduced by 0.7 m/s.S. L. Gray, R. G. Harrison.
Diagnosing eclipse-induced wind changes
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Proceedings of the Royal Society ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

''. DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2012.0007 Published 25 May 2012
Archive
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Coincidence of events

In addition to the eclipse, 20 March 2015 was also the day of the March

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

(also known as the spring or vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere). In addition, six

supermoon A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual Angular diameter, apparent size of the lunar disk as v ...

s were expected for 2015. The supermoon on 20 March 2015 was the third of the year; however, it was a new moon (near side facing away from the sun), and only its shadow was visible. At greatest eclipse, the Sun was at its zenith less than 24 kilometers south of the Equator. Greatest eclipse occurred at 09:45:39 UTC of Friday, March 20, 2015 while March Equinox occurred at 22:45:09 UTC, just under 13 hours after the greatest eclipse (Greatest eclipse occurred in winter, 13 hours before spring).

Religious Significance

Proponents of the Blood Moon Prophecy, such as Bob O'Dell also pointed out that 20 March 2015 was also a significant day on the Jewish and Biblical calendar. That evening was the onset of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month in the Biblical calendar year. Furthermore, the path of the total eclipse over the North Pole was a highly symbolic location infusing the day with both great natural significance and profound religious meaning according to O'Dell. Due to the significance of the eclipse, a global prayer event in Jerusalem was organized that day.

Eclipse visibility

The event was visible as a partial eclipse all across Europe including: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Montenegro, Finland, Western Russia, and Ukraine. File:20th March 2015 Solar Eclipse in Sheffield, UK.jpg, Sheffield, United Kingdom. All time local time (GMT) File:Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 - Lorient 5743.JPG, Lorient, France, 10:20 local time (9:20 GMT) File:15-03-20-Sonnenfinsternis-Berlin-RalfR-N3S 6865-01.jpg, Berlin, Germany, 10:29 local time (9:29 UTC) – unconfirmed source File:15-03-20-Sonnenfinsternis-Markt Schwaben.JPG, Markt Schwaben, Germany File:March 20th Eclipse - Ireland.jpg, Dublin, Ireland, 9:30 GMT File:Eclipse, 2015, Chester-le-Street.jpg,

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at ...

, United Kingdom, 9:36 GMT File:EclipseTórshavn.JPG, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, End of totality, 9:43 local time (GMT) File:Solar eclipse of 20th march 2015 - Wrocław, Poland.png, Wrocław, Poland, 10:44 local time (9:44 UTC) File:Solar Eclipse 2015 - Hjartdal, Norway.JPG,

Hjartdal Hjartdal is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sauland. The muni ...

, Norway, 10:47 local time (9:47 UTC) File:Zatmění Slunce 2015-03-20 Praha, Dejvice 10.48.jpg,

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oc ...

, 10:49 local time (9:49 UTC) File:2015 Zaćmienie słońca 20.03.2015.jpg,

Kłodzko Kłodzko (; cz, Kladsko; german: Glatz; la, Glacio) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko ...

, Poland, 10:54 local time (9:54 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 2015 Warsaw Poland.jpg, Warsaw, Poland, 10:56 local time (9:56 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 2015 Budapest Hungary.jpg, Budapest, Hungary, 11:00 local time (10:00 UTC) File:Sonnenfinsternis - Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 in Austria 5.jpg,

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

, Austria, 11:06 local time (10:06 UTC) File:Solar eclipse 20th, March 2015, in Milano, Italy.JPG,

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, 11:08 (10:08 UTC) – unconfirmed source File:То,чего не может быть.jpg,

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, 13:25 local time (10:25 UTC) File:Solar eclipse of 2015 March 20 in Kiev.JPG,

Kiev, Ukraine Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, 12:28 local time (10:28 UTC) File:Ulcinj – Eclipse 2015.JPG,

Ulcinj Ulcinj ( cyrl, Улцињ, ; ) is a town on the southern coast of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 10,707 (2011), the majority being Albanians. As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic co ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, 11:34 local time (10:34 UTC) File:20 Mar 2015 Moscow 10-35 (UTC), 13-35 (Local).jpg,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Russia, 13:35 local time (10:35 UTC) File:March 20 Solar Eclipse Leeds England.png, Leeds, United Kingdom, 10:30 UTC/GMT

Simulation

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2015

* A total solar eclipse on March 20. * A total lunar eclipse on April 4. * A partial solar eclipse on September 13. * A total lunar eclipse on September 28.

Solar eclipses descending node 2015-2018

* Saros 120: Total Solar Eclipse March 20, 2015 * Saros 130: Total Solar Eclipse March 8–9, 2016 * Saros 140: Annular Solar Eclipse February 26, 2017 * Saros 150: Partial Solar Eclipse February 15, 2018

Lunar eclipses

A total lunar eclipse followed on April 4, 2015, visible over Australia, and the Pacific coast of Asia and North America.

Solar eclipses 2015–2018

Saros series

Metonic series

References

Bibliography

NASA graphics

NASA Besselian Elements – Partial Solar Eclipse of 2007 September 11

External links

APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written ...

3/21/2015, totality of Longyearbyen, Svalbald
A Double Eclipse of the Sun

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

moving in front of the eclipsed sun,

3/22/2015, partial eclipse of

Fregenal de la Sierra Fregenal de la Sierra (originally Frexnal or Frexenal) is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. Geography Fregenal de la Sierra is located in the Sierra Suroeste comarca (county), among the small hills and ravi ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Diamond Rings and Baily's Beads

3/28/2015, totality of Longyearbyen, Svalbald
Corona from Svalbard

3/31/2015 *
Eclipse spectacle
AstroBob, 3/20/15 * {{Solar eclipses 2015 in Europe 2015 in science 2015 03 20 2015 03 20 March 2015 events 2015 in Iceland