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New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [2];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [6];  [9]
  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Calgary, AB (Canada)
  3. Boston Univ., MA (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  4. Lancaster Univ. (United Kingdom)
  5. Univ. of Calgary, AB (Canada); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  6. Alberta Aurora Chasers, AB (Canada)
  7. Univ. of Calgary, AB (Canada); Athabasca Univ., AB (Canada); Univ. of Western Ontario, London, ON (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration
  8. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  9. Athabasca Univ., AB (Canada)
+ Show Author Affiliations
A glowing ribbon of purple light running east-west in the night sky has recently been observed by citizen scientists. This narrow, subauroral, visible structure, distinct from the traditional auroral oval, was largely undocumented in the scientific literature and little was known about its formation. Amateur photo sequences showed colors distinctly different from common types of aurora and occasionally indicated magnetic field–aligned substructures. Observations from the Swarm satellite as it crossed the arc have revealed an unusual level of electron temperature enhancement and density depletion, along with a strong westward ion flow, indicating that a pronounced subauroral ion drift (SAID) is associated with this structure. These early results suggest the arc is an optical manifestation of SAID, presenting new opportunities for investigation of the dynamic SAID signatures from the ground. On the basis of the measured ion properties and original citizen science name, we propose to identify this arc as a Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE).
Research Organization:
Boston Univ., MA (United States); Lancaster Univ. (United Kingdom); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Calgary, AB (Canada); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) (United States); Canadian Space Agency (CSA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF) (United States); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (United Kingdom); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1483550
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--18-29256
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 4; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (14)

Citizen Radio Science: An Analysis of Amateur Radio Transmissions With e-POP RRI journal August 2018
Aurorasaurus Database of Real‐Time, Crowd‐Sourced Aurora Data for Space Weather Research journal December 2018
On the Origin of STEVE: Particle Precipitation or Ionospheric Skyglow? journal August 2018
A Statistical Analysis of STEVE journal November 2018
Magnetospheric Signatures of STEVE: Implications for the Magnetospheric Energy Source and Interhemispheric Conjugacy journal June 2019
Steve: The Optical Signature of Intense Subauroral Ion Drifts journal June 2019
Identifying STEVE's Magnetospheric Driver Using Conjugate Observations in the Magnetosphere and on the Ground journal November 2019
First Observations From the TREx Spectrograph: The Optical Spectrum of STEVE and the Picket Fence Phenomena journal July 2019
The Vertical Distribution of the Optical Emissions of a Steve and Picket Fence Event journal October 2019
Optical Spectra and Emission Altitudes of Double‐Layer STEVE: A Case Study journal December 2019
Color Ratios of Subauroral (STEVE) Arcs journal July 2019
Modeling Stable Auroral Red (SAR) Arcs at Geomagnetic Conjugate Points: Implications for Hemispheric Asymmetries in Heat Fluxes journal July 2019
Fall 2018 AGU Editors' Highlights: Living Within the Sun's Stormy Atmosphere journal January 2019
Cross Sections for Electron Collisions with NO, N 2 O, and NO 2 journal December 2019

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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS