AURORAL PULSATIONS AND FLAMING - SOME INITIAL RESULTS OF A CINEMATOGRAPHIC STUDY USING AN IMAGE INTENSIFIER

Examples are given of pulsating patches, one class of which showed no quasi-periodicity but nevertheless exhibited remarkably consistent emission times throughout the pulsation cycle. From records of flaming auroras, upward field-aligned speeds of 75-130 km/sec have been calculated for the luminosity enhancement. If this upward flaming is interpreted as due to velocity dispersion of a burst of precipitating electrons originating simultaneously in a localized region along the appropriate magnetic field line, the calculated distances of this region out along the field line range from 2.5 to 4 RE. Two observations of downward flaming, together with calculated speeds, are reported. © 1969.