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Article Dans Une Revue Science Année : 2010

Identifying the Driver of Pulsating Aurora

Y. Nishimura
  • Fonction : Auteur
J. Bortnik
  • Fonction : Auteur
W. Li
R. M. Thorne
  • Fonction : Auteur
L.R. Lyons
  • Fonction : Auteur
V. Angelopoulos
  • Fonction : Auteur
S. B. Mende
  • Fonction : Auteur
J. W. Bonnell
  • Fonction : Auteur
Olivier Le Contel
C. M. Cully
  • Fonction : Auteur
R. Ergun
U. Auster
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Pulsating aurora, a spectacular emission that appears as blinking of the upper atmosphere in the polar regions, is known to be excited by modulated, downward-streaming electrons. Despite its distinctive feature, identifying the driver of the electron precipitation has been a long-standing problem. Using coordinated satellite and ground-based all-sky imager observations from the THEMIS mission, we provide direct evidence that a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave, lower-band chorus, can drive pulsating aurora. Because the waves at a given equatorial location in space correlate with a single pulsating auroral patch in the upper atmosphere, our findings can also be used to constrain magnetic field models with much higher accuracy than has previously been possible.
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Dates et versions

hal-01553765 , version 1 (03-07-2017)

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Y. Nishimura, J. Bortnik, W. Li, R. M. Thorne, L.R. Lyons, et al.. Identifying the Driver of Pulsating Aurora. Science, 2010, 330 (6000), pp.81-84. ⟨10.1126/science.1193186⟩. ⟨hal-01553765⟩
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