Sensitivity and robustness of sky-polarimetric Viking navigation: Sailing success is most sensitive to night sailing, navigation periodicity and sailing date, but robust against weather conditions.

ABSTRACT: Although Viking sailors did not have a magnetic compass, they could successfully navigate with a sun-compass under a sunny sky. Under cloudy/foggy conditions, they might have applied the sky-polarimetric Viking navigation (SPVN), the high success of which has been demonstrated with computer simulations using the following input data: sky polarization patterns measured with full-sky imaging polarimetry, and error functions of the navigation steps measured in psychophysical laboratory and planetarium experiments. As a continuation of the earlier studies, in this work we investigate the sensitivity of the success of SPVN to the following relevant sailing, meteorological and navigational parameters: sunstone type, sailing date, navigation periodicity, night sailing, dominance of strongly, medi

SUBMITTER: Takacs P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8809617 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature