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Abstract Ultraviolet images of Earth's polar regions obtained by high altitude spacecraft have proved to be immensely useful for documenting numerous features of the aurora and understanding the coupling between Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. In this study we have examined images obtained by the far ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager camera on the IMAGE satellite during the first three years of its mission (2000–2002) for comparison with observations of large geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) by ground‐based magnetometers in eastern Arctic Canada. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the use of high‐altitude imager data to identify the global context of GMDs. We found that rapid auroral motions or localized intensifications visible in these images coincide with regions of largedB/dtas well as localized and closely spaced up/down vertical currents and increased equivalent ionospheric currents, but one of the two events presented did not appear to be related to substorm processes. These magnetic perturbations and currents can appear or disappear in a few tens of seconds, thus highlighting the importance of images with a high cadence.