Patchy Pulsating Aurora and its Relationship to Cold Plasma in the Magnetospheric Equatorial Plane
| atmire.migration.oldid | 1849 | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Donovan, Eric | |
| dc.contributor.author | Rae, Kyle | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-01-30T18:06:27Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-03-15T07:00:20Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-01-30 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2013 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Patchy pulsating aurora occur frequently after geomagnetic disturbances. These aurora consist of patches which are typically tens to one hundred or more kilometers in spatial extent. The patches sometimes pulsate (as their name suggests) quasi-periodically. The luminosity results from upper atmospheric atoms and molecules that have been excited by electrons that precipitate onto our atmosphere from above, however it is not known what process or processes lead to the formation of the patches, in particular their shape. In this thesis I investigate the origin of the shape of the patchy pulsating aurora. To accomplish this I have created a list of 53 instances of patchy pulsating aurora which I found using a network of all-sky cameras. For each event in this list I tracked the movement of and change in longitudinal extent of these auroral patches. As well, I used an empirical magnetic field model to map the patch shapes to the magnetic equatorial plane in the magnetosphere. I then assumed that the equatorial ``image'' of the patch is a structure in the equatorial plasma. I used the same magnetic field model, and an empirical model of the magnetospheric electric field to simulate the motion of charged particles within the patch image. Finally, I mapped the evolved equatorial patch image back to the ionosphere using the magnetic field model, so that I could compare the evolution of the simulated patch footprint to the evolution of the real patch. What I found was that the motion of the real patches corresponds well to that of the ionospheric footprint of the equatorial patches provided the particles within the patch are of relatively low energy. Further, I found that in order for the evolution of the shape of the simulated patches (as mapped into the ionosphere) to match that of the real patches, the range of energies of the particles must be extremely small. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Rae, K. (2014). Patchy Pulsating Aurora and its Relationship to Cold Plasma in the Magnetospheric Equatorial Plane (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27269 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/27269 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1347 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Graduate Studies | |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.publisher.place | Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | |
| dc.subject | Geophysics | |
| dc.subject | Astronomy and Astrophysics | |
| dc.subject.classification | Aurora | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Magnetosphere | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Plasmasphere | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Northern Lights | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Patchy Pulsating | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Plasma | en_US |
| dc.title | Patchy Pulsating Aurora and its Relationship to Cold Plasma in the Magnetospheric Equatorial Plane | |
| dc.type | master thesis | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Physics and Astronomy | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science (MSc) | |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true |