NASA's DC-8 taking off from the Kiruna, Sweden, runway in January 2000. The weather at this town of 25,000, located north of the Arctic Circle, can be severe. Temperatures drop as low as 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. In December 1999, when the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) deployment began, there were 20 days of darkness. By mid-January 2000, there was 5 hours of daylight, while in mid-February this increased to nine hours per day. The population of Kiruna extended its hospitality to the SOLVE personnel. On January 22, 2000, the town hosted a dinner for the participants and media attending an open house at the Arena Arctica hangar. At the end of the SOLVE deployment, the airborne science team held an open house for the townspeople at the facility.