Effects of Dynamic Coloured Lighting on Mood of Occupants During the Antarctic Polar Night

The prolonged darkness and monotonous environmental colours exert detrimental effects on mood during the Antarctic night. The dynamic coloured lighting (DCL) experiment was conducted at the beginning, middle, and end nodes of the polar night in the Antarctic Health Cabin, where ECG signals, Semantic Differential Scale (SD), and Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) were collected. The results indicated that as polar night time increased, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in DCL1 conditions of illumination exhibited a decreasing trend while it initially increased and then decreased in DCL2 illumination conditions. Subjective evaluations of both lighting patterns were positive. In DCL1, pleasure at the end of polar night was significantly better than in the middle (P<0.05), and arousal levels at both middle and end nodes were significantly higher compared to it at the beginning of polar night (P<0.05). In DCL2, pleasure was significantly higher at the beginning than in the middle of polar night (P<0.05). This study revealed the potential impact of dynamic coloured lighting on enhancing the emotional well-being of the Antarctic Research Expedition during the polar night.