Preliminary report on auroral, magnetic, and Earth‐current observations at Chesterfield, Northwest Territories, Canada

Abstract

The reduction and tabulation of the auroral, magnetic, and earth‐current observations taken at Chesterfield (63° 20′ north latitude, 90° 42′ west longitude) during the second International Polar Year has reached the point where certain general conclusions may be made from the results. However, some or all may be subject to considerable modification when the reductions are completed.Between October 1, 1933, and April 30, 1934, aurorae were seen on all except 53 nights, and of these 43 were continuously overcast so that an aurora could not have been seen visually. The McLennan night‐sky spectrograph was used from December 5, 1933 to April 27, 1934, as an indicator of aurora, the length of exposure being varied from about 15 minutes for clear nights with strong aurora to two hours for overcast nights. With the exception of a few nights with heavy cloud, or with heavy cloud and high snow‐drift, auroral spectral lines were always recorded.