Steve: The Optical Signature of Intense Subauroral Ion Drifts

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-28-2019

Abstract

Little is currently known about the optical phenomenon known as Steve. The first scientific publication on the subject suggests that Steve is associated with an intense subauroral ion drift (SAID). However, additional inquiry is warranted as this suggested relationship as it is based on a single case study. Here we present eight occurrences of Steve with coincident or near-coincident measurements from the European Space Agency's Swarm satellites and show that Steve is consistently associated with SAID. When satellite observations coincident with Steve are compared to that of typical SAID, we find the SAID associated with Steve to have above average peak ion velocities and electron temperatures, as well as extremely low plasma densities.

Identifier

85068361587 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082687

e-ISSN

19448007

ISSN

00948276

First Page

6279

Last Page

6286

Issue

12

Volume

46

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

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