Dynamics of day and night aurora during substorms

Abstract

The motion of auroral forms on the day- and nightside of the Earth has been studied during different substorm phases by means of all-sky camera films. A substorm is characterized by a shift of the luminescence region towards the equator at noon and mainly towards the pole at midnight. However, individual forms drift predominantly toward the pole on the dayside and towards the equator on the nightside. The velocity of the poleward motion at noon is largest during the expansive phase of a substorm and amounts on the average to 330 m sec but even during relatively quiet magnetic conditions a poleward motion is observed. © 1975.