HR: 0800h
AN: SA21A-0344    [Abstracts]
TI: Comparison of the Ultraviolet Aurora at High and Low Spatial Resolution
AU: Liou, K
EM: kan.liou@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: * Carbary, J
EM: james.carbary@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AB: On 22 and 23 November 1997, ultraviolet imagers and spectrographic imagers on the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) observed the aurora at sub-kilometer spatial resolution at wavelengths from 114 nm to 385 nm. At the same time, the Polar Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) observed the aurora at similar wavelengths, but at spatial resolutions two orders of magnitude larger. UVI measurements in certain far-UV bands are often used to determine auroral energy deposition, characteristic energy, and composition, but only on a gross spatial scale. For two polar passes in November, this paper compares key auroral radiances (130.4 nm, 135.6 nm, and the LBHS and LBHL bands) at high spatial resolution from MSX with those at low spatial resolution from UVI. As might be expected, the high resolution data exhibit considerably more structure than the low resolution data, both spatially and temporally. Degradation of the high spatial resolution radiances to low resolution will determine if the latter accurately can represent auroral energetics and composition.
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0342 Middle atmosphere--energy deposition
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting