Strange Behavior of a Midday Discrete Dayside Auroral Arc
Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Type
Submission
Department
Physics
Major
Physics
Abstract
Observations of dayside aurora close to magnetic noon in Longyearbyen, Svalbard have been reported for several decades. One of the most common type of auroral activity are Poleward-Moving Auroral Forms (PMAFs), which are thought to be ionospheric signatures of dayside magnetic reconnection. PMAFs originate when the dayside auroral oval brightens, after which they move away from the dayside auroral oval and propagate anti-sunward until they fade from view.On 3 January 2020, at ~08:15 UT, the dayside auroral brightens and an auroral form begins to move anti-sunward. Instead of fading from view as it moved into the polar cap, the auroral form displayed a continuous flow of enhanced periodic brightening for ~30 minutes. This presentation reports on the evolution of this midday auroral feature and the associated solar wind parameters. The images for this auroral event are from the Boreal Aurora Camera Constellation (BACC) from the Kjell Henrikson Observatory (KHO) in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (GEO: 78.148°N, 16.043°E; AACGM: 75.24°N,111.21°E). for auroral event.
Faculty Mentor
Gerard Fasel
Funding Source or Research Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
11-4-2025 1:00 PM
End Date
11-4-2025 2:00 PM
Strange Behavior of a Midday Discrete Dayside Auroral Arc
Waves Cafeteria
Observations of dayside aurora close to magnetic noon in Longyearbyen, Svalbard have been reported for several decades. One of the most common type of auroral activity are Poleward-Moving Auroral Forms (PMAFs), which are thought to be ionospheric signatures of dayside magnetic reconnection. PMAFs originate when the dayside auroral oval brightens, after which they move away from the dayside auroral oval and propagate anti-sunward until they fade from view.On 3 January 2020, at ~08:15 UT, the dayside auroral brightens and an auroral form begins to move anti-sunward. Instead of fading from view as it moved into the polar cap, the auroral form displayed a continuous flow of enhanced periodic brightening for ~30 minutes. This presentation reports on the evolution of this midday auroral feature and the associated solar wind parameters. The images for this auroral event are from the Boreal Aurora Camera Constellation (BACC) from the Kjell Henrikson Observatory (KHO) in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (GEO: 78.148°N, 16.043°E; AACGM: 75.24°N,111.21°E). for auroral event.
