Optical Emissions from Proton Aurora

Abstract

Hydrogen emissions are the signature of proton aurora. The Doppler-shifted hydrogen emission lines can be interpreted in terms of the mean energy of the precipitating protons. A red shifted component of the line profiles observed from the ground indicates upward going hydrogen atoms due to angular redistribution of the precipitation. Secondary electrons from ionization and stripping collisions also contribute to the auroral emissions. Since the energy distribution of these secondaries has a lower mean energy than secondary electrons in electron aurora, the relative brightness of eniission features differs from that in electron aurora. The secondaries contribute little to additional ionization. These differences between proton and electron aurora can lead to misinterpretation when brightness ratios are used to derive ionospheric conductances with parameterizations that are based on electron aurora.