The implications and characteristics of diffuse-like but dynamic aurora ...
The aurora (northern/southern lights) are a majestic display of light that illuminates the night sky at high latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres. These lights come in several different varieties. Discrete and substorm aurora are the brightest and most photogenic type, but in this thes...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of Iowa
2023
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.25820/etd.007178 https://iro.uiowa.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/9984437259202771 |
| Summary: | The aurora (northern/southern lights) are a majestic display of light that illuminates the night sky at high latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres. These lights come in several different varieties. Discrete and substorm aurora are the brightest and most photogenic type, but in this thesis we focus on the dimmer, but just as important, diffuse aurora. More specifically, we look at subsets of diffuse aurora that are also dynamic. A majority of this work is devoted to pulsating aurora, which appear as an uncoordinatedsymphony of dim auroral patches that blink on and off across wide portions of the sky. Pulsating aurora plays an important role in energy transfer between the magnetosphere and the upper atmosphere. This energy transfer can have significant impacts on the atmosphere, such as ozone depletion. Using electron density measurements from the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, we were able to statistically quantify the energy flux of electrons responsible for pulsating aurora. We found a ... |
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