Coupling Processes in the Inner Magnetosphere Associated with Midlatitude Red
Auroras during Superstorms

J.U. Kozyra, B.J. Anderson, P.C. Brandt, C.A. Cattell, J.P. Dombeck, 
M.R. Hairston, R.A. Heelis, C.Y. Huang, H. Korth, M.W. Liemohn, M.J. Mendillo, 
D.G. Mitchell, L.J. Paxton, C.J. Pollock, A.J. Ridley, K. Shiokawa, 
M.F. Thomsen, and L.J. Zanetti


During recent superstorms, observations from IMAGE, Iridium, FAST, DMSP, TIMED,
LANL Geo and ground-based photometers at vantage points throughout the geospace
system are used to investigate, for the first time, features that map from the
inner magnetosphere to strong red emissions at mid-latitudes, reaching as far
equatorward as 33 deg MLAT. At the lowest latitudes, emissions have very little
structure being described as a diffuse but intense red glow. The observations
imply that these visible unstructured mid-latitude emissions are in fact extreme
stable auroral red (SAR) arcs, and that large-scale coupling processes, within
the inner magnetosphere are key to producing an enhanced energy source to drive
SAR-arc intensities into the visible range. This presentation will focus on the
31 March 2001 and 11 April 2001 extreme events but draw upon a larger set of
storms for supporting observations. New questions raised by these observations,
as well as initial modeling results, will be presented.

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Presentation, Fall A.G.U. Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 13-17 December 2004