Physics Department Seminar University of Alaska Fairbanks


J O U R N A L    C L U B

 

Dispersion analysis of flickering aurora
 
by
 
Robert Michell
Southwest Research Institute

 

 

ABSTRACT

We present a case study of a flickering aurora event observed from Poker Flat Alaska. The data were recorded using an Andor EMCCD narrow field of view imager. The images were recorded at 33.58 frames per second. The specific event analyzed consists of a time series of images lasting approximately 30 seconds (1000 images) where active flickering aurora was observed throughout the entire sequence. An asymmetry was found in the scale size of the patches, with the East-West direction being approximately twice as large as the North-South direction. The calculation of the dispersion relation, reveals that the temporal frequencies of the luminosity variations occur throughout the well-defined range of 5 Hz to 14 Hz, with a sharp increase in power around 5 Hz and the peak at approximately 10 Hz. These data are compared to the theoretically calculated dispersion relation for ion cyclotron waves.



 

Friday, 16 Sept. 2011

Globe Room, Elvey Building

3:45 PM