Simultaneous optical and satellite observations of auroras in the mantle: Case study

Abstract

The all-sky camera data obtained in Barentsburg (Spitsbergen Archipelago) are compared with specific features of electron and ion precipitations on the DMSP F18 satellite during its flight within the camera field of view on December 15, 2012. Before arriving at the cusp from the mantle side, the satellite detects two outbursts of precipitating particles. The burst of mantle precipitations far from the cusp is observed simultaneously in both ionic and electronic components. In the ionosphere related to the satellite, no auroras are detected, which is likely due to the low intensity of the flux of precipitating electrons and their low energy (80 eV). Near the cusp, a more intensive burst of precipitations of higher-energy electrons (140 eV) is accompanied by an almost complete “locking” of ions. This burst of mantle precipitations is related to the faint luminous structure in the ionosphere. The ion locking is indicative of the accelerating potential difference in the force tube, which is based on the glowing region. The luminous structure is an element of the so-called “polewar moving auroral forms,” which is related in the literature to the reconnection in the daytime magnetopause. The possible relation of the observed phenomena to the reconnected magnetic force tubes, which drift from the cusp in the antisolar direction, is also confirmed by the dispersion of ionic precipitations, i.e., an increase in ion energy as the satellite approaches to the cusp.