Development of low-cost multi-wavelength imager system for studies of aurora and airglow

• Published in: Polar Science
• Main Authors: Ogawa, Y., Tanaka, Y., Kadokura, A., Hosokawa, K., Ebihara, Y., Motoba, T., Gustavsson, B., Brändström, U., Sato, Y., Oyama, S., Ozaki, M., Raita, T., Sigernes, F., Nozawa, S., Shiokawa, K., Kosch, M., Kauristie, K., Hall, C., Suzuki, S., Miyoshi, Y., Gerrard, A., Miyaoka, H., Fujii, R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Svalbard; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Science
• Online Access: https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/140042/; https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/140042/1/Download_File.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2019.100501

This paper introduces a new system that can monitor aurora and atmospheric airglow using a low-cost Watec monochromatic imager (WMI) equipped with a sensitive camera, a filter with high transmittance, and the non-telecentric optics. The WMI system with 486-nm, 558-nm, and 630-nm band-pass filters has observable luminosity of about ~200–4000 Rayleigh for 1.07-sec exposure time and about ~40–1200 Rayleigh for 4.27-sec exposure time, for example. It is demonstrated that the WMI system is capable of detecting 428-nm auroral intensities properly, through comparison with those measured with a collocated electron-multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD) imager system with narrower band-pass filter. The WMI system has two distinct advantages over the existing system: One makes it possible to reduce overall costs, and the other is that it enables the continuous observation even under twilight and moonlight conditions. Since 2013 a set of multi-wavelength WMIs has been operating in northern Scandinavia, Svalbard, and Antarctica to study meso- and large-scale aurora and airglow phenomena. Future development of the low-cost WMI system is expected to provide a great opportunity for constructing a global network for multi-wavelength aurora and airglow monitoring.