Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Science. 2010 Oct 1;330(6000):81-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1193186.
Pulsating aurora, a spectacular emission that appears as blinking of the upper atmosphere in the polar regions, is known to be excited by modulated, downward-streaming electrons. Despite its distinctive feature, identifying the driver of the electron precipitation has been a long-standing problem. Using coordinated satellite and ground-based all-sky imager observations from the THEMIS mission, we provide direct evidence that a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave, lower-band chorus, can drive pulsating aurora. Because the waves at a given equatorial location in space correlate with a single pulsating auroral patch in the upper atmosphere, our findings can also be used to constrain magnetic field models with much higher accuracy than has previously been possible.
脉动极光，一种出现在极地区域上层大气闪烁的壮观发射现象，已知是由调制的、向下流动的电子激发的。尽管具有独特的特征，但确定电子沉降的驱动因素一直是一个长期存在的问题。利用 THEMIS 任务协调的卫星和地面全天空成像仪观测，我们提供了直接证据，表明自然发生的电磁波——低频段哨声波——可以驱动脉动极光。由于在给定的空间赤道位置的波与上层大气中的单个脉动极光斑相关，因此我们的发现也可以比以前更精确地用于约束磁场模型。
