The Aurora: Sun Earth Interactions (Ellis Horwood library of space science & space technology - series in astronomy) - Hardcover

Bone, Neil

9780130513922: The Aurora: Sun Earth Interactions (Ellis Horwood library of space science & space technology - series in astronomy)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 013051392X ISBN 13: 9780130513922

Publisher: Ellis Horwood Ltd , Publisher, 1991

This work focuses on the underlying causes and occurrence of the aurora, mainly at low altitudes, but with an increased discussion (compared to the first edition) of high latitude aurorae. The various auroral forms are described with the aid of illustrations, and practical advice is given as to how to observe and photograph the aurora. The following chapters, including those on scientific investigations of the aurora, the active sun, the Earth's magnetosphere, the polar aurorae, the mid-latitude aurora, and related high atmosphere effects have all been updated and revised to take into account the wealth of work which has been reported since the first edition was published in 1991.

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Synopsis:

This study reviews the wealth of new information that has been (and is continuously being) generated by satellite and ground-based observations on the aurora. Opening with a broad overview of why we should continue to be interested by a phenomenon which occurs in the relatively near neighbourhood of the atmosphere, the author points out that several areas of human endeavour are influenced by auroral phenomena. Ground currents induced during intense auroral storms which have been a source of failures in electricity grid systems in Canada and Scandinavia, is just one example. An appraisal of the history of aurorae, and the way in which historical examinations can provide an insight into determining past activity of the sun, provides a background to the author's main text in which he looks at how the advent of satellite exploration has brought a clearer model for the magnetic environment surrounding the Earth, and provided a clearer picture of the mechanisms behind the aurora.

There is comprehensive coverage of a number of topics including the composition and nature of the high atmosphere, causes of mid-latitude aurorae, radio aurorae, noctilucent clouds and, finally, unusual phenomena which may follow rocket launches and experimental gas releases by satellites.

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