ANGEO Annales Geophysicae ANGEO Ann. Geophys. 1432-0576 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/angeo-28-705-2010 The increase in OH rotational temperature during an active aurora event Suzuki H. 1 Tsutsumi M. 2 Nakamura T. 2 Taguchi M. 3 Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 10-3 Midoricho, Tachikawa city, Tokyo, 190-8518, Japan National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3 Midoricho, Tachikawa city, Tokyo, 190-8518, Japan Rikkyo University, 3-34-1 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, 171-8501, Japan 05 03 2010 28 3 705 710 Copyright: © 2010 H. Suzuki et al. 2010 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/28/705/2010/angeo-28-705-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/28/705/2010/angeo-28-705-2010.pdf

OH rotational temperatures have been observed at the Syowa Station, Antarctica (69° S, 39° E), which is located in the middle of the auroral zone and has a high-sensitivity spectrometer for the spectral region of the OH 8-4 band. A dataset of 153 nights was acquired during the 2008 austral winter season. Of the 153 nights, the weather and aurora conditions were only suitable on 6 nights to study the relationship between auroral activity and OH airglow variation. Of these 6 nights, a significant increase in the rotational temperature and a decrease in the intensity related to an aurora activity were identified on the night of 27/28 March 2008, but no such variations were seen during the other nights. The horizontal magnetic field disturbance on the night of 27/28 March was the largest of that winter, while the cosmic radio noise absorption was also very strong. These facts indicate that, compared with the other nights, a large flux of high-energy auroral particles precipitated during the night. It is suggested that the observed variations in the OH rotational temperature and airglow intensity were caused by a lowering of the average airglow height as a result of OH depletion in the upper part of the layer where high-energy auroral particles can reach.

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