North-South Asymmetry in the Geographic Location of Auroral Substorms correlated with Ionospheric Effects.

ABSTRACT: Energetic particles of magnetospheric origin constantly strike the Earth's upper atmosphere in the polar regions, producing optical emissions known as the aurora. The most spectacular auroral displays are associated with recurrent events called magnetospheric substorms (aka auroral substorms). Substorms are initiated in the nightside magnetosphere on closed magnetic field lines. As a consequence, it is generally thought that auroral substorms should occur in both hemispheres on the same field line (i.e., magnetically conjugated). However, such a hypothesis has not been verified statistically. Here, by analyzing 2659 auroral substorms acquired by the Ultraviolet Imager on board the NASA satellite "Polar", we have discovered surprising evidence that the averaged location for substorm onsets

SUBMITTER: Liou K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6250675 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature