The aurora often appears as an approximately oval shape surrounding the magnetic poles, and is a visible manifestation of the intricate coupling between the Earth’s upper atmosphere and the near-Earth space environment. While the average size of the auroral oval increases with geomagnetic activity, the instantaneous shape and size of the aurora is highly dynamic. The identification of auroral boundaries holds significant value in space physics, as it serves to define and differentiate regions within the magnetosphere connected to the aurora by magnetic field lines. In this work, we demonstrate a method to detect and model the poleward and equatorward boundaries in global UV images. Our methodology enables analysis of the spatiotemporal variation in auroral boundaries from 2.5 years of UV imagery from the IMAGE satellite. The resulting dataset reveals a root mean square boundary normal velocity of 149 m/s for the poleward boundary and 96 m/s for the equatorward boundary and the velocities are shown to be stronger on the nightside than on the dayside. Interestingly, our findings demonstrate an absence of correlation between the amount of open magnetic flux and the amount of flux enclosed within the auroral oval. Furthermore, we highlight the inadequacy of a simplistic generalization of the expanding-contracting polar cap paradigm in explaining temporal variations in the auroral oval area, underscoring the imperative for an enhanced understanding of equatorward boundary fluctuations.

The auroral electrojet is traditionally measured remotely with magnetometers on ground or in low Earth orbit (LEO). The sparse distribution of measurements, combined with a vertical distance of some 100 km to ground and typically >300 km to LEO satellites, means that smaller scale sizes can not be detected. Because of this, our understanding of the spatiotemporal characteristics of the electrojet is incomplete. Recent advances in measurement technology give hope of overcoming these limitations by multi-point remote detections of the magnetic field in the mesosphere, very close to the electrojet. We present a prediction of the magnitude of these disturbances, inferred from the spatiotemporal characteristics of magnetic field-aligned currents. We also discuss how Zeeman magnetic field sensors (Yee et al., 2020) onboard the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) satellites will be used to essentially image the equivalent current at unprecedented spatial resolution. The electrojet imaging is demonstrated by combining carefully simulated measurements with a spherical elementary current representation using a novel inversion scheme.

An accurate description of the state of the ionosphere is crucial for understanding the physics of Earth’s coupling to space, including many potentially hazardous space weather phenomena. To support this effort, ground networks of magnetometer stations, optical instruments, and radars have been deployed. However, the spatial coverage of such networks is naturally restricted by the distribution of land mass and access to necessary infrastructure. We present a new technique for local mapping of polar ionospheric electrodynamics, for use in regions with high data density, such as Fennoscandia and North America. The technique is based on spherical elementary current systems (SECS), which were originally developed to map ionospheric currents. We expand their use by linking magnetic field perturbations in space and on ground, convection measurements from space and ground, and conductance measurements, via the ionospheric Ohm’s law. The result is a technique that is similar to the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) technique, but tailored for regional analyses of arbitrary spatial extent and resolution. We demonstrate our technique on synthetic data, and with real data from three different regions. We also discuss limitations of the technique, and potential areas for improvement.