Observation of O + ( 4 P- 4 D 0 ) lines in electron aurora over Svalbard

• Published in: Annales Geophysicae
• Main Authors: N. Ivchenko, M. H. Rees, B. S. Lanchester, D. Lummerzheim, M. Galand, K. Throp, I. Furniss
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2004
• Subjects: Science; Q; Physics; QC1-999; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Norway; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-22-2805-2004; https://doaj.org/article/a8f977023501405c9e1714ec9ed25d7e

This work reports on observations of O + lines in aurora over Svalbard, Norway. The Spectrographic Imaging Facility measures auroral spectra in three wavelength intervals (H β , N + 2 1N(0,2) and N + 2 1N(1,3)). The oxygen ion multiplet (4639-4696Å) is blended with the band. It is found that in electron aurora, the brightness of this multiplet, is on average, about 0.1 of the total brightness. A joint optical and incoherent scatter radar study of an electron aurora event shows that the ratio is enhanced when the ionisation in the upper E-layer (140-190km) is significant with respect to the E-layer peak below 130km. Rayed arcs were observed on one such occasion, whereas on other occasions the auroral intensity was below the threshold of the imager. A one-dimensional electron transport model is used to estimate the cross section for production of the multiplet in electron collisions, yielding 0.18x10 -18 cm 2 .