Preliminary report on the results of rocket experiments at Syowa Station in 1984

• Main Authors: Takesi Nagata, Takeo Hirasawa, Masaki Ejiri, Takayuki Ono
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Polar Research 1985
• Subjects: Syowa Station; Antarc*; Antarctica; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1813; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00001813/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1813&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Results of the experiments with the sounding rockets at Syowa Station, Antarctica, are presented preliminarily. Three rockets penetrated into the bright active arc (~8kR for 4278Å) during the breakup phase, the quiet stable arc (~3kR) during the pre-breakup phase and the diffuse auroras (2~3kR) during the post-breakup phase of auroral substorms. The peak of electron density amounts to 2×(10)^5 ele/(cm)^3 at 120km in altitude, 2×(10)^5 ele/(cm)^3 at 100km and 6×(10)^4 ele/(cm)^3 at 150km for bright active, the quiet stable and the diffuse auroras, respectively, while the diffuse aurora has the secondary peak of electron density with the amount of 2×(10)^4 ele/(cm)^3 at 100km in altitude. The vertical profiles of auroral λ4278Å emissions for the three auroras of different types show that the height of maximum λ4278Å emission is in agreement with the height (120km) of the peak layer of electron density in the breakup active auroras and in agreement with the height (95~100km) of the secondary peak layer of electron density in the post-breakup diffuse auroras. The energy spectra of precipitating electrons measured by three rockets suggest that the auroral arcs are excited mostly by the auroral electrons of 1~5keV in energy.