Solar cycle and seasonal variations have been found in the occurrence of strong thermally excited 630.0 nm emissions in the polar ionosphere. Measurements from the European Incoherent Scatter Svalbard Radar have been used to derive the thermal emission intensity. Thermally excited emissions have been found to maximize at solar maximum with peak occurrence rate of ∼40% compared to ∼2% at solar minimum. ...

On 6 December 2002, during winter darkness, an extraordinary event occurred in the sky, as viewed from Longyearbyen (78° N, 15° E), Svalbard, Norway. At 07:30 UT the southeast sky was surprisingly lit up in a deep red colour. The light increased in intensity and spread out across the sky, and at 10:00 UT the illumination was observed to reach the zenith. The event died out at about 12:30 UT. Spectral ...

Neutral temperatures at 90 km height above Tromsø, Norway, have been determined using ambipolar diffusion coefficients calculated from meteor echo fading times using the Nippon/Norway Tromsø Meteor Radar (NTMR). Daily temperature averages have been calculated from November 2003 to October 2014 and calibrated against temperature measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on board Aura. ...

In this work, we model the polarisation of the auroral red line using the electron impact theory developed by Bommier et al. (2011). This theory enables the computation of the distribution of the Degree of Linear Polarisation (DoLP) as a function of height if the flux of precipitated electrons is provided as input. An electron transport code is used to infer the stationary electron flux at each ...

The turbopause is the demarcation between atmospheric mixing by turbulence (below) and molecular diffusion (above). When studying concentrations of trace species in the atmosphere, and particularly long-term change, it may be important to understand processes present, together with their temporal evolution that may be responsible for redistribution of atmospheric constituents. The general ...

A method for nowcasting of the auroral electrojet location from real-time geomagnetic data in the European sector is presented. Along the auroral ovals strong electrojet currents are flowing. The variation in the geomagnetic field caused by these auroral electrojets is observed on a routine basis at high latitudes using ground-based magnetometers. From latitude profiles of the vertical component of ...

De mange forsøk på å beskrive og forklare nordlyset som en finner i eldre litteratur vitner om lange tradisjoner for denne forskningen i vårt land. Norge ble av mange oppfattet som "Nordlysets Fædreneland" som biskop Spidberg fra Kristiansand uttrykte det allere i 1750.

Nordlyset er lys i atmosfæren som skyldes nedbør av energirike partikler - særlig elektroner, og de former og bevegelser vi ser i nordlyset skyldes variasjoner i denne atmosfæren. Når energirike elektroner nærmer seg jorden ovenfra, trenger de gjennom atmosfæren som stadig øker i tetthet. i 150-100 km's høyde blir atmosfærens tetthet så stor at elektronene begynner å kollidere med atmosfærenes atomer ...