Identifying the Driver of Pulsating Aurora
Identifying the Driver of Pulsating Aurora
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1193186
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发表时间：
2010-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Auster, U.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Nishimura, Y.;Bortnik, J.;Auster, U.
脉动极光是极地地区高层大气闪烁时出现的一种壮观的发射，已知是由调制的下行电子激发的。尽管它有着独特的特征，但识别电子沉淀的驱动因素一直是一个长期存在的问题。利用THEMIS使命的协调卫星和地面全天空成像仪观测，我们提供了直接证据，表明自然发生的电磁波，低波段合唱，可以驱动脉动极光。由于在空间中给定的赤道位置的波与高层大气中的单个脉动极光斑块相关，因此我们的研究结果也可以用于约束磁场模型，其精度比以前高得多。
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.