Paper#: 85
Poster #: 23
Session Name: Poster Session 1
Room: East Ballroom
Day: Tuesday
Time: 10:10 a.m.-Noon
Abstract Title: Spatial and Temporal Features of Flickering Aurora: Consequences for the Generation of Field Aligned Bursts
PresentSurname: MacDonald, E.
All Authors: E. MacDonald, M. Lessard, S. Damm, T. Trondsen
Abstract : Using a new technique, we show the spatial and temporal development of flickering patches of aurora. Through tracking the motion of the spectral power of luminosity fluctuations at the flickering frequency, the patches serve as a proxy for the evolution of their excitation mechanism. The occurrence of flickering aurora is thought to be the end result of a sequence of events beginning with intense inverted V precipitating electrons. These electrons excite a beam instability from the primary distribution which generates ion cyclotron waves. These waves then modulate the inverted V population, forming field aligned bursts of electrons up to the inverted V energy which are observed optically as flickering aurora. This particular study uses video data from the University of Calgary Portable Auroral Imager, acquired during an observing campaign in Kaktovik, Alaska during February, 2000. By analyzing the evolution of flickering patches, we estimate the spatial and temporal scales of field aligned bursts associated with this particular event and discuss our results in the context of the theory described above.