Aurora, Substorms, and THEMIS

D. G. Sibeck
NASA/GSFC
THEMIS Project Scientist
 Outline
• What do aurora look like?
• Where do aurora occur?
• When do aurora occur?
• Why do aurora occur?
• How will THEMIS help us understand
aurora?
• Where can I find out more information?
Quartz Lake State Park, Alaska
September 6, 1996
January 6, 1998
 Aurora in Alaska

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March 11, 1998

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 Aurora in Lapland

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 Loomis Auroral Chart, 1860

North
Pole

You are
here Elias
Loomis
Professor,
Yale
 % Nights With Aurora

You are still

here- you have
a small but
finite chance You can also see
aurora in
of seeing
Antarctica!
aurora
 Aurora over the Eastern U.S.

Sometimes the
auroral oval
brightens and
expands over
the continguous
United States
You are
here
Good news: Auroras come furthest equatorward here
on the East Coast

Bad news: only during severe geomagnetic storms

X
 Ground Magnetograms
27 Day Solar Rotation
Example

Sudden Commencement
Compression
Summary:
Storm
One Year of
Disturbance
Kp index
 When Should One Look?

At or just
before
midnight,
Spring or
Fall

Spring
Fall
 SOHO: Solar Flares and Ejecta

Our story
begins at QuickTime™ and a
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Solar Wind Model: Streams and Blast Waves

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Earth’s Magnetic Field
Our Magnetic Shield
Solar Wind Buffetting: Model

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Aurora
Reconnection

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Cause of Aurora

120 km

60 km
Reconnection Model

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Current Disruption

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 THEMIS
• Science:
– Identify when and where substorms (building blocks of storms)
begin
– Distinguish between competing models
– Understand substorm physics

• Impact on Society
– Predict when and where substorms occur
– Understand and guard against substorm-related increases in
radiation belt particle flux, communication disruptions, and current
surges in power/pipelines
THEMIS Launch

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 Orbital Information
• Launched at Sunset, February 17, 2007

• Presently: all 5 s/c on almost identical orbits:

– 1.1 x 14.7 RE with inclination 14.4°, period 31 hours, separated by
100’s to 1000’s km
– Apogees between the Sun and the Earth, studying radiation belts
and the outer boundary of the Earth’s magnetic field

• Future…each has its own special orbit to help pinpoint

when and where substorm onset occurs
 THEMIS
(Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms)

distinguishes amongst competing substorm models

Careful positioning of
?
5 well-instrumented Rarefaction wave
probes and dedicated array
of ground observatories ?
Flows

GBO P3
P5 P2 P1
P4

Allows us to impartially
test two competing models
and determine the cause of
substorms
SPACECRAFT AND INSTRUMENTS
FIVE IDENTICALLY-INSTRUMENTED
SPACECRAFT (128 kg), EACH CARRYING:

ESA: Electrostatic analyzer measures

EFIs 0.003-30 keV ions/electrons (UCB)

Ia
EF
SST: Solid state telescopes measures
SCM
0.03-6 MeV ions and electrons (UCB)

FGM: Fluxgate magnetometer measures

ESA magnetic field to 128 Hz (Germany)

SST SCM: Search coil magnetometer measures

0.001 - 4 kHz magnetic field (France)

EFI: Electric field instrument on wires and

FGM axial booms 0.0003 - 400 kHz (UCB)
Tspin=3s
 5 THEMIS
S/C Line Up in Tail Once/4 Days

Sun

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 Timing a Substorm
March 23, 2007
TH-GBOs: High resolution & sensitivity 3rd on THA
Onset: 11:12:51UT, Intensification: 11:18:30UT

2nd on THB

Magnetic Field
THE

THA
THB
THD

THC

Sun
First on THD

Last on THE
 Dedicated Array of
US/Canadian Ground Observatories
Provide Daily Auroral Movies

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 First Auroral Mosaic Movie
February 14, 2007

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Dedicated Array of US and Canadian Ground Stations

 FOR MORE INFORMATION
• Principle Investigator: Vassilis Angelopoulos (NASA/JPL)

• Project Scientist: David Sibeck (NASA/GSFC)

• NASA SITE WWW.NASA.GOV/THEMIS

• SCIENCE SITE: themis.ssl.berkeley.edu

• EPO SITE: http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/themis/no_flash.html