Paper#: 126
Poster #:
Session Name: Plenary
Room: West Ballroom
Day: Tuesday
Time: 8:55-9:20 a.m.
Abstract Title: Global Imaging of Proton and Electron Aurora in Substorms
PresentSurname: Mende, S.
All Authors: S. Mende, H. Frey, T. Immel, D.G. Mitchell, P. C:son Brandt
Abstract : The IMAGE far ultraviolet (FUV) instrument suite provides for the first time a simultaneous global view of electron and proton precipitation during substorms. A sample set of substorms were identified by the IMAGE Wideband Imaging Camera (WIC) as a sudden enhancement in auroral intensity. The WIC images are dominated by electron-produced emissions. The simultaneous observations of the proton aurora by the IMAGE Spectrographic Imager instrument found that it responds to substorm activity by intensifying at onset. It also expands poleward but in general more modestly when compared to the electrons. The direction and speed of the local time expansion of the substorm electrons and proton precipitation was studied for a large number of substorms. In a single case study comparison between IMAGE FUV and energetic neutral atom (ENA) imager data shows that intense proton and electron precipitation is a relatively short lived feature of the substorm compared to the longevity of the trapped fluxes which had been transported to locations near the earth during the initial substorm phases.