Experimental studies of auroral arc generators

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). An all-sky video camera system was deployed in Eagle, Alaska at the foot of the magnetic field line that threads geosynchronous satellite 1989-046 as part of a campaign to study correlations of ground-based auroral activity with satellite-based plasma and energetic particle measurements. The overall intent of the project was to study magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling as it relates to the aurora, and, in particular, to look for signatures that may help to identify various auroral generator mechanism(s). During this study, our efforts were primarily directed towards identifying the generator mechanism(s) for pulsating aurora. Our data, though not conclusive, are found to support theories that propose a cyclotron resonance mechanism for the generation of auroral pulsations