Aurora. December 19th 1980. Arctic and Antarctic Sightings

[robert]

On December the 19th 1980 there were 'unusual' sightings of the Aurora in the Northern and Souhern Hemisphere.

Maybe a connection with the ELF and Van Allen Belt testings on the day or days in question.

Robert



JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 96, NO. A4, PAGES 5597–5617, 1991

The Intense Magnetic Storm of December 19, 1980: Observations
Abstract

The intense magnetic storm of December 19, 1980 occurred during a major rocket and balloon geophysical research campaign at Siple Station, Antarctica. A balloon flight measuring the electric field and bremsstrahlung X ray flux was conducted during the main phase of the storm. The balloon data and associated ground-based data from around the world contain several lines of evidence which indicate that the dayside auroral oval expanded to an invariant latitude ? 59° during the storm. Evidence for this conclusion includes (1) the pattern of ground-based magnetic field and ionospheric electric field perturbations; (2) a substantial departure from the normal diurnal curve of the vertical component of the electric field in the stratosphere; and, (3) identical, relatively rapid equatorward motion of regions of electron precipitation, observed or inferred to occur, simultaneously at three L ? 4 stations: Siple, Halley Bay and SANAE, separated by several hours in local time across the dayside. The absence of electron precipitation at Siple after this equatorward motion is an indication that the polar cap had expanded to include Siple during this interval. The power spectra of the magnetic field fluctuations at ULF observed at Siple and in a conjugate latitude chain of magnetometers were consistent with the presence of the dayside auroral oval in the near vicinity of Siple and with the presence of a major magnetospheric boundary slightly equatorward of ? 59°. The stratospheric electric field measured during the recovery phase was very large for this latitude for a period of several hours. This observation suggests that a subauroral latitude ion drift event of unusual intensity and duration accompanied this storm.

Received 8 May 1990; accepted 5 November 1990.

Read Full Article Cited by

Citation: Bering, E. A., III, J. R. Benbrook, R. Haacke, J. R. Dudeney, L. J. Lanzerotti, C. G. Maclennan, and T. J. Rosenberg (1991), The Intense Magnetic Storm of December 19, 1980: Observations at L = 4, J. Geophys. Res., 96(A4), 5597–5617.

Copyright 1991 by the American Geophysical Union.






http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/1597/

Nonlinear Wave Particle Interaction Theory Applied to Siple Triggered VLF Emissions, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Proc of the Symposium on Wave Instabilities in Space Plasmas (URSI)

Nunn, D. (1979) Nonlinear Wave Particle Interaction Theory Applied to Siple Triggered VLF Emissions, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Proc of the Symposium on Wave Instabilities in Space Plasmas (URSI). In: UNSPECIFIED.





http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF4/461.html


Alaska Science Forum
February 2, 1981



December 19, 1980 Red Aurora
Article #461

by T. Neil Davis

This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. T. Neil Davis is a seismologist at the institute.

Although all data from far-flung stations are not yet available, it is possible to piece together a description of the unusual auroral display of December 19, 1980 using reports from those who saw the display and instrumental data acquired at Fairbanks and Fort Yukon, Alaska. Aside from the rarity of the blood-red auroras, this display is of special interest because it induced very large currents in the electrical transmission line between Nenana and Fairbanks between 5:00 am and 7:00 am on the morning of December 19 (Alaska standard time).

Black and white pictures taken each minute by an all-sky camera at Fort Yukon showed that a normally appearing auroral arc--probably a green one--developed directly overhead that location just after 7:00 p.m. on the evening of December 18, 1980. Several arcs and bands swirled overhead Fort Yukon during the next hour, not an unusual occurrence at that auroral zone location. The aurora then quieted down.

The first hint that this might be an unusual night was visual sighting of aurora directly overhead Anchorage shortly after midnight. This in itself was not really unusual, since auroras do often appear over Anchorage; when they do, it means a larger-than-average display is underway.

At 1:43 am, the aurora over Fort Yukon started anew, and by 2:30 a.m. the arcs were showing unusually tall ray structures; perhaps they were more reddish than usual. Things started to get exciting about 3:45 am, and the aurora came on like gangbusters over the whole of the southern half of Alaska. However, the best of the action appears to have been seen in the Anchorage area and the areas easterly of it over into British Columbia. The aurora was seen overhead Seward between 5:15 am and 6:30 am and overhead Ketchikan near 6:20 am.

A red glow was seen on the north horizon in the Anchorage area near 4:00 am. There was deep red aurora to the west of Clear, Alaska at 6:45 am, and then truly red aurora mixed in with auroras of green and yellowish hues spread over Anchorage-area skies in the hour or two after 6:30 am. The last aurora seen was being entirely obscured by sunlight by 9:00 am.

A number of people living within a hundred miles of Anchorage saw long ray structures, of mixed colors, stretching up toward the center of the sky and converging to a point called the magnetic zenith. In the Anchorage area this point is somewhat to the southeast of the true zenith which is directly overhead the observer. Called the corona, this rayed auroral structuring signifies that the aurora is overhead, since the coronal appearance cannot happen otherwise.

Several persons righty noted that the red portions of this aurora were of unusual purity of color and quite different from the reddish hues that sometimes tinge the bottoms of normal, active green auroras. The deep blood-red color of the unusual all-red auroras is truly pure, as is light from a laser, since it is not a mixture of colors. Instead it is, in this case, composed of light of only two red wavelengths, at 6300 and 6364 Angstroms.

Most of the aurora we see is a mixture of many colors. There usually is much bluish light near 3900 Angstroms, but our eyes are poor in the blue, so we detect it poorly. Our eyes see best in the green, and there usually is strong auroral light at 5577 Angstroms (a yellowish green color) hence we see green aurora frequently.

The rare all-red auroras and the tall ray structures or tall featureless masses in which the red auroras appear are caused by a preponderance of incoming particles (electrons and protons) having lower speeds than those that cause the common garden-variety green auroras usually seen. Moving too slowly to penetrate down to an altitude near 100 km (60 miles) where green auroras are created, the slow-moving particles lose most of their energy to oxygen atoms in the high atmosphere, at altitudes in the range 200 to 400 km. The interaction of the incoming particles with the oxygen atoms gives the pure red light at 6300 and 6364 Angstroms.

By contrast, the red tinge sometimes seen at the bottoms of green auroras is a mixture of many different shades of red caused by the incoming particles striking oxygen and nitrogen molecules lying comparatively low in the atmosphere, at altitudes 60 to 90 km.

[robert]

http://www.earthpulse.com/src/subcatego ... subcatid=1

Background of the HAARP Project

Prepared by Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., GNSH

Project Argus (1958)

Between August and September 1958, the US Navy exploded three fission type nuclear bombs 480 km above the South Atlantic Ocean, in the part of the lower Van Allen Belt closest to the earth's surface. In addition, two hydrogen bombs were detonated 160 km over Johnston Island in the Pacific. The military called this "the biggest scientific experiment ever undertaken." It was designed by the US Department of Defense and the US Atomic Energy Commission, under the code name Project Argus. The purpose appears to be to assess the impact of high altitude nuclear explosions on radio transmission and radar operations because of the electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and to increase understanding of the geomagnetic field and the behavior of the charged particles in it.

This gigantic experiment created new (inner) magnetic radiation belts encompassing almost the whole earth, and injected sufficient electrons and other energetic particles into the ionosphere to cause world wide effects. The electrons traveled back and forth along magnetic force lines, causing an artificial "aurora" when striking the atmosphere near the North Pole.

The US Military planned to create a "telecommunications shield" in the ionosphere, reported in 13-20 August 1961, Keesings Historisch Archief (K.H.A.). This shield would be created "in the ionosphere at 3,000 km height, by bringing into orbit 350,000 million copper needles, each 2-4 cm long [total weight 16 kg], forming a belt 10 km thick and 40 km wide, the needles spaced about 100 m apart." This was designed to replace the ionosphere "because telecommunications are impaired by magnetic storms and solar flares." The US planned to add to the number of copper needles if the experiment proved to be successful. This plan was strongly opposed by the Intentional Union of Astronomers.
Poker Flat Rocket Launch (1968 to Present)

The Poker Flat Research Range is located about 50 km North of Fairbanks, Alaska, and it was established in 1968. It is operated by the Geophysical Institute with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, under NASA contract. About 250 major rocket launches have taken place from this site, and in 1994, a 16 meter long rocket was launched to help NASA "understand chemical reactions in the atmosphere associated with global climate change." Similar experiments, but using Chemical Release Modules (CRM), have been launched from Churchill, Manitoba. In 1980, Brian Whelan's "Project Waterhole" disrupted an aurora borealis, bringing it to a temporary halt. In February 1983, the chemical released into the ionosphere caused an aurora borealis over Churchill. In March 1989, two Black Brant X's and two Nike Orion rockets were launched over Canada, releasing barium at high altitudes and creating artificial clouds. These Churchill artificial clouds were observed from as far away as Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The US Navy has also been carrying on High Power Auroral Stimulation (HIPAS) research in Alaska. Through a series of wires and a 15 meter antenna, they have beamed high intensity signals into the upper atmosphere, generating a controlled disturbance in the ionosphere. As early as 1992, the Navy talked of creating 10 kilometer long antennas in the sky to generate extremely low frequency (ELF) waves needed for communicating with submarines. Another purpose of these experiments is to study the Aurora Borealis, called by some an outdoor plasma lab for studying the principles of fusion. Shuttle flights are now able to generate auroras with an electron beam. On November 10, 1991, and aurora borealis appeared in the Texas sky for the first time ever recorded, and it was seen by people as far away as Ohio and Utah, Nebraska and Missouri. The sky contained "Christmas colors" and various scientists were quick to blame it on solar activity. However, when pressed most would admit that the ionosphere must have been weakened at the time, so that the electrically charged particle hitting the earth's atmosphere created the highly visible light called airglow. These charged particles are normally pulled northwards by the earth's magnetic forces, to the magnetic north pole. The Northern Lights, as the aurora borealis is called, normally occurs in the vortex at the pole where the energetic particles, directed by the magnetic force lines, are directed.

[robert]

Re December 19th 1980.

Cheers Silvertop.

Just a small point re the above. They were trying ELF pulses at this time off the ionosphere but they had also tried to widen the range of detection and communication by using the same principle and bouncing it off the Van Allen Belt!

I would think the unusual nature of the December 19th incident could well point to this type of testing and was the possibly forerunner of the HAARP project based up in Alaska. They also used the ELF pulses from a base at Iceland . Name of the site is in the Radar thread somewhere.

Robert

[time4truth]

Hi All ! After a lot of reading abt Hypersonic Space Planes and Antigravity systems.. I just wonder if RFI had anythig to do with these Black Projects? US and Russia were WAY AHEAD of anything we could could even imagine!! SOOO MUCH hidden from general public..(star visitors donatig alien metals and technology since 1940's ! crikey!!)