Fractal approach to description of the auroral structure

Abstract. During the last two decades the fractal geometry has become a powerful approach to different physical problems. It is also found to be useful in image processing applications. A numerical quantity that characterizes the auroral structure would be important for auroral investigations. We try to obtain the quantity on the basis of the box-counting dimension of the line of equal intensity. In this paper we present results of some tests of our procedure by simulated images. The possibilities that the approach gives us for analysis of the auroral dynamics are discussed. The auroral dynamics during several typical auroral events are considered.

Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere) – Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions) – Space plasma physics (nonlinear phenomena)