Photos: Surfing Under the Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle

A surfer looks at the Northern lights illuminating the sky over the snow covered beach of Unstad, on Lofoten Islands, Arctic Circle, on March 14, 2016. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Surfs up in the freezing cold. 

Unstad beach, on the Lofoten Islands in Norway, is one of the most unlikely surfing hotspots in the world. Located inside the Arctic circle, the waters there offer sub-zero degree discomfort. 

But the beauty of the islands, and the sheer attraction of surfing inside the Arctic circle, has made it a popular destination in recent years, aided by the development of wetsuit technology that makes the experience a little less troublesome. 

“People think it will be super cold but it’s not a problem—the technology of the new wetsuits is just so good,” Marion Frantzen, who had been surfing on Unstad since the 1960s, told the Guardian in 2014. 

And of course, the island offers a front seat view of the otherworldly Northern Lights. 

A surfer looks at the Northern lights (aurora borealis) illuminating the sky over the snow covered beach of Unstad, on Lofoten Islands, Arctic Circle, on March 14, 2016. (Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

(Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

(Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

(Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images)