Ra. Doe et al., TOMOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTION OF 630.0 NM EMISSION STRUCTURE FOR A POLAR-CAP ARC, Geophysical research letters, 24(9), 1997, pp. 1119-1122
Monochromatic imagers located at two sites in the Canadian Arctic were
operated concurrently during the poleward transit of a duskside sun-a
ligned polar cap are on 19 February 1996. The are was observed by both
stations in 630.0 nm images over a 5-min period. Profiles of 630.0 nm
brightness versus elevation angle were extracted from pairs of images
along a great circle defined by the two ground stations. These data w
ere then supplied as inputs to a tomographic reconstruction for the ar
c-related 630.0 nm volume emission rate in a vertical (latitude vs. al
titude) plane: eta(630)(lat,z). The time evolution of eta(630)(lat,z)
structure for this polar cap are indicates that a modification to the
electron source energy distribution and not a thermospheric process (s
uch as neutral heating and plasma diffusion/decay) controlled the are-
related 630.0 nm emission.