Ionospheric Signatures og Magnetospheric Cusp and Boundary Layer Processes in the Eastern Arctic

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This proposal requests support for the operation of the Svalbard Auroral Station to make optical measurements of the dayside aurora in December 1992 and January 1993. This site lies in the Eastern Arctic where the sky is dark enough to allow optical observations of the dayside auroral oval from late November to late January. The station is instrumented with a TV all-sky camera, a 5 channel meridian scanning photometer, a riometer, and also induction and fluxgate magnetometers. Previous work established the spectural character and morphology of both the magnetic pulsations and the auroral forms in the dayside aurora. That the strength and direction of the interplanetary magnetic field is directly related to the form and motion of the dayside aurora implying that the latter is an ionospheric signature of plasma entry at the magnetopause. Correlation of the optical observations with simultaneous measurements of geomagnetic pulsations has resulted in a model of the magnetospheric structure associated with this correlation. This proposal is to support further the optical measurements required to test this model of the relationship of the dayside ionosphere to magnetospheric boundary layer phenomena. New data will be obtained in a coordinated campaign with the GEM-funded project led by J.V. Olson. Olson's magnetometers will identify current systems and the optical instruments will record the auroral features.