First Simultaneous Observation of STEVE and SAR Arc Combining Data From Citizen Scientists, 630.0 nm All‐Sky Images, and Satellites

Abstract

On September 28, 2017 citizen scientist observations at Alberta, Canada (51°N, 113° W) detected aurora and a thin east‐west purplish arc, known as strong thermal emission velocity enhancement (STEVE) that lasted less than 20 min. All‐sky imagers at subauroral latitudes measured stable auroral red (SAR) arcs during the entire night. The imager at Bridger, MT (45.3°N, 108.9°W) also measured a STEVE. The overlapping geometry allowed to determine that the height of STEVE was 225–275 km. STEVE is brighter in the 630.0 nm images in the West and almost merges with the SAR arc in the East. A DMSP satellite pass in the southern hemisphere was at the conjugate location of the Bridger imager during the STEVE observation. When mapped into the northern hemisphere intense subauroral ion drift and subauroral polarization streams were detected associated with the two optical signatures measured in 630.0 nm.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 24, 2021
Source ID
10.1029/2020gl092169

Entities

People

  • Alan Dyer
  • Asti Bhatt
  • Bea Gallardo-Lacourt
  • Carlos Martinis
  • J. Wroten
  • John R. Baumgardner
  • Yukitoshi Nishimura

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Ames National Laboratory
  • Boston University
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • National Science Foundation
  • SRI International

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Polar and Arctic Studies

Technology Areas

  • Space