High‐resolution television observations of black aurora

Abstract

In view of a recent revival of interest in the black aurora and related phenomena, and a striking lack of information on the phenomenon in the literature, we present high spatial and temporal resolution optical observations of the black aurora made by the University of Calgary portable auroral imager. A variety of black auroral phenomena, such as black vortices, arcs, and eastward drifting black auroral patches and arc segments, were observed in the evening and midnight sector diffuse auroral oval during a field trip to Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan, from February 25 to March 7, 1995. Observed spatial and temporal characteristics are reviewed, with statistical data presented in the form of histograms.