Dr. Ian Griffin, an astronomer and citizen scientist, captured the extraordinary light display in the skies near Brighton, Dunedin, on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, 2015), during a geomagnetic storm.
According to the researchers, a large red arc overhead known as a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc was seen along with an auroral activity to the south.
This gradually changed into a “STEVE,” or strong thermal emission velocity enhancement, which is a thin, white-mauve arc.
While both arcs may appear to be ordinary aurorae, the team emphasized that they are actually created by a slightly distinct physical process.
“There was something weird happening overhead,” Dr. Griffin commented on his observations,” which is unusual for New Zealand, as the auroras are usually low down in the sky.”
“I got curious,” the expert adds, “and pulled out a really wide fisheye lens to start a timelapse.”
“Because this kind of transformation has never been recorded before, we’ve come away with some interesting measurements that can’t be explained by current scientific theories and models.”
The discoveries, according to the researchers, could shed fresh insight into the intricate magnetic interactions that take place in the near-Earth space environment.
Following the light show, Dr. Griffin shared his observations on YouTube, where they caught the attention of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland auroral scientist Dr. Bea Gallardo-Lacourt in 2018.
Professor Carlos Martinis of Boston University’s department of space physics and his colleagues were then given access to the recordings.
They examined the video combined with information obtained from satellites and an all-sky imager at Mount John Observatory, which is about 124 miles north of Dunedin.
It was a pleasure and a privilege, according to Dr. Griffin, to collaborate with a group of scientists to learn more about these auroral displays.
Since the discovery of STEVE, citizen scientists’ assistance and collaboration have been crucial to our research, according to Dr. Gallardo-Lacourt.
“Their dedication and passion for chasing the aurora and related phenomena provided us with an incredible set of data.
“I never thought my work would involve such a rich connection to this community and the beauty provided by their photographs.”
“These observations highlight the benefits of merging two communities, citizen scientists and researchers, to help discover new connections in geospace,” continued Professor Martinis.
“This study would not have been possible without Ian’s photographs.”
The findings show a rapid evolution of some of the greatest plasma characteristics yet observed in the upper atmosphere of the Earth.
The University of Otago in Dunedin quantum physicist David Hutchinson said: “Physicists love to smash atoms together and see what happens, but we usually have to build things like the Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.
“In this case, nature did all the hard work for us by creating the auroral displays in the atmosphere.
“Understanding the processes responsible for these optical phenomena is key to uncovering the fundamental science, and how the interaction between gases and plasma at different altitudes dominate the atmospheric chemistry.”
The results of the investigation were detailed in an article published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Image Credit: Martinis et al. / Geophysical Research Letters
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