LARGE-SCALE AURORAL MOTIONS AND POLAR MAGNETIC DISTURBANCES. III. THE AURORA AND MAGNETIC STORM OF 11 FEBRUARY 1958
The drastic changes that occurred in the distribution of the arctic aurora during the great magnetic storm of February 11, 1958, are described, on the basis of the records of the auroral all-sky cameras in North America, together with one in East Siberia and the one in Japan. Over the dark hemisphere, the aurora occurred overhead in a strip of varying width that lay parallel to the auroral zone. Its northern border fluctuated considerably during the storm, in parallel with the occurrence of polar magnetic substorms (DP) during the main storm. In the quiet intervening intervals, the northern border of the strip of aurora descended to geomagnetic latitude 50 deg N. During these quiet intervals, the aurora was completely absent from the region of the auroral zone, where normally it is most frequent and intense. During the DP' s the strip was widest and expanded mainly by northward movement of its northern border. The southern border moved slightly southward at the same time, but its latitude was nearly constant throughout the main D/sub st/ phase of the storm. An explanation is suggested in terms of the varying distribution of particles in the region of the Van Allen belts. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Alaska, College
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-011065
- OSTI ID:
- 4080920
- Journal Information:
- J. Atmospheric Terrest. Phys., Vol. Vol: 24; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-64
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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