This paper reviews key properties and major unsolved problems about Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) and the picket fence. We first introduce the basic characteristics of STEVE and historical observations of STEVE-like emissions, particularly the case on 11 September 1891. Then, we discuss major open questions about STEVE: 1) Why does STEVE preferentially occur in equinoxes? 2) How do the solar wind and storm/substorm conditions control STEVE? 3) Why is STEVE rare, despite that STEVE does not seem to require extreme driving conditions? 4) What are the multi-scale structures of STEVE? 5) What mechanisms determine the properties of the picket fence? 6) What are the chemistry and emission mechanisms of STEVE? 7) What are the impacts of STEVE on the ionosphere−thermosphere system? Also, 8) what is the relation between STEVE, stable auroral red (SAR) arcs, and the subauroral proton aurora? These issues largely concern how STEVE is created as a unique mode of response of the subauroral magnetosphere−ionosphere−thermosphere coupling system. STEVE, SAR arcs, and proton auroras, the three major types of subauroral emissions, require energetic particle injections to the pre-midnight inner magnetosphere and interaction with cold plasma. However, it is not understood why they occur at different times and why they can co-exist and transition from one to another. Strong electron injections into the pre-midnight sector are suggested to be important for driving intense subauroral ion drifts (SAID). A system-level understanding of how the magnetosphere creates distinct injection features, drives subauroral flows, and disturbs the thermosphere to create optical emissions is required to address the key questions about STEVE. The ionosphere−thermosphere modeling that considers the extreme velocity and heating should be conducted to answer what chemical and dynamical processes occur and how much the STEVE luminosity can be explained. Citizen scientist photographs and scientific instruments reveal the evolution of fine-scale structures of STEVE and their connection to the picket fence. Photographs also show the undulation of STEVE and the localized picket fence. High-resolution observations are required to resolve fine-scale structures of STEVE and the picket fence, and such observations are important to understand underlying processes in the ionosphere and thermosphere.
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This content will become publicly available on December 2, 2024
Fine‐Scale Structures of STEVE Revealed by 4K Imaging
We utilized a 4K imaging to examine properties of fine‐scale structures of Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) near the magnetic zenith. Its high spatial (0.09 km at 200 km altitude) and temporal (24 Hz) resolution provided unprecedented details of fine‐scale structures in the subauroral ionosphere. Although the STEVE emission was seen as a homogeneous purple/mauve arc in the all‐sky images, the high‐speed imaging revealed that STEVE contained substantial multi‐scale structures. The characteristic wavelength and period were 12.4 ± 7.4 km and 1.4 ± 0.8 s, and they drifted westward at 8.9 ± 0.7 km/s. The speed is comparable to the reported magnitude of the intense subauroral ion drifts (SAID), suggesting that the fine‐scale structures are an optical manifestation of the
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10478412
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 128
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Strong thermal emission velocity enhancement (STEVE) is an optical phenomenon of the subauroral ionosphere arising from extreme ion drift speeds. STEVE consists of two distinct components in true‐color imagery: a mauve or whitish arc extended in the magnetic east–west direction and a region of green emission adjacent to the arc, often structured into quasiperiodic columns aligned with the geomagnetic field (the “picket fence”). This work employs high‐resolution imagery by citizen scientists in a critical examination of fine‐scale features within the green emission region. Of particular interest are narrow “streaks” of emission forming underneath field‐aligned picket fence elements in the 100‐ to 110‐km altitude range. The streaks propagate in curved trajectories with dominant direction toward STEVE from the poleward side. The elongation is along the direction of motion, suggesting a drifting point‐like excitation source, with the apparent elongation due to a combination of motion blur and radiative lifetime effects. The cross‐sectional dimension is <1 km, and the cases observed have a duration of
∼ 20–30 s. The uniform coloration of all STEVE green features in these events suggests a common optical spectrum dominated by the oxygen 557.7‐nm emission line. The source is most likely direct excitation of ambient oxygen by superthermal electrons generated by ionospheric turbulence induced by the extreme electric fields driving STEVE. Some conjectures about causal connections with overlying field‐aligned structures are presented, based on coupling of thermal and gradient‐drift instabilities, with analogues to similar dynamics observed from chemical release and ionospheric heating experiments. -
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Abstract To understand magnetosphere‐ionosphere conditions that result in thermal emission velocity enhancement (STEVE) and subauroral ion drifts (SAID) during the substorm recovery phase, we present substorm aurora, particle injection, and current systems during two STEVE events. Those events are compared to substorm events with similar strength but without STEVE. We found that the substorm surge and intense upward currents for the events with STEVE reach the dusk, while those for the non‐STEVE substorms are localized around midnight. The Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) satellite observations show that location of particle injection and fast plasma sheet flows for the STEVE events also shifts duskward. Electron injection is stronger and ion injection is weaker for the STEVE events compared to the non‐STEVE events. SAID are measured by Super Dual Auroral Radar Network during the STEVE events, but the non‐STEVE events only showed latitudinally wide subauroral polarization streams without SAID. To interpret the observations, Rice Convection Model (RCM) simulations with injection at premidnight and midnight have been conducted. The simulations successfully explain the stronger electron injection, weaker ion injection, and formation of SAID for injection at premidnight, because injected electrons reach the premidnight inner magnetosphere and form a narrower separation between the ion and electron inner boundaries. We suggest that substorms and particle injections extending far duskward away from midnight offer a condition for creating STEVE and SAID due to stronger electron injection to premidnight. The THEMIS all‐sky imager network identified the east‐west length of the STEVE arc to be ~1900 km (~2.5 h magnetic local time) and the duration to be 1–1.5 h.
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Abstract Using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite observations and ground‐based observations by the THEMIS all‐sky imagers (ASIs) and SuperDARN radars, we determine how the equatorward boundary locations of ring current ions and plasma sheet electrons at pre‐midnight relate to occurrence of strong thermal emission velocity enhancement (STEVE) and intense subauroral ion drifts (SAID) during substorms. We found that the STEVE events are associated with a sharper gradient of electron precipitating flux, lower precipitating ion flux, and a narrower (<1°) latitudinal gap between the equatorward boundaries of trapped ring current ions and precipitating plasma sheet electrons and narrower region‐2 field‐aligned currents (FACs) than for the non‐STEVE events. The narrow gap of the particle boundaries contains intense SAID, higher upflow velocity, lower trough density, and slightly higher electron temperature than those for the non‐STEVE events. The non‐STEVE substorms have much wider gaps between the trapped ions and precipitating electrons, and subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) do not show intense SAID. These results indicate that subauroral flows and downward FACs for the STEVE events can only flow within the latitudinally narrow subauroral low‐conductance region between the ion and electron boundaries, resulting in intense SAID and heating. During the non‐STEVE events, the SAPS flows can flow in the latitudinally wide region without forming intense SAID.
