Time Lapse Movies of IMAGE Fuv Observations of Recent Periods of High Geomagnetic Activity

S. B. Mende (1), H. U. Frey (1), M. Lampton (1), J. Gearld (2), B. Hubert (2), S. Habraken (3), E. Renotte (3), 
C. Jamar (3), J. Spann (4), S. A. Fuselier (5), R. Gladstone (6) and J. L. Burch (6)

1 - Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2 - University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
3 - Center Spatiale de Liege, Liege, Belgium
4 - George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
5 - Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, CA
6 - Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX

The Wideband Imaging Camera (WIC) system is one of the three imagers of the IMAGE FUV investigation.  This 
instrument operates in the wavelength region 140-170 nm, which is most suitable for a downward-viewing auroral 
imager because it is only minimally contaminated by scattered sun light and the aurora can be observed even in 
the presence of the high-latitude dayglow.  WIC provides broad band ultraviolet images of the aurora for maximum 
spatial resolution in summer sunlit conditions by imaging the LBH N2 bands.  The FUV instrument complement looks 
radially outward from the rotating IMAGE satellite and, therefore, it spends only a short time (few seconds) 
observing the aurora and the earth during each (2 min.) spin.  The short exposures provide sharper image 
resolution than prior ultraviolet spaceborne auroral imagers.  Through the onboard electronic picture integration 
WIC images have very large dynamic range.  Images from the periods following a CME event (June 8th) and two 
magnetic storms (July 15th and August 12th) were processed to form time lapse movies.  These movies illustrate 
the dynamic behavior of the aurora when viewed from a global perspective.

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Presented at the Fall American Geophysical Union Meeting, 
San Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2000