Articles | Volume 43, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-701-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-701-2025
ANGEO Communicates
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14 Nov 2025
ANGEO Communicates | Highlight paper |  | 14 Nov 2025

A statistical study of the O2 atmospheric band aurora observed by the Swedish satellite MATS

Judit Pérez-Coll Jiménez, Nickolay Ivchenko, Ceona Lindstein, Lukas Krasauskas, Jonas Hedin, Donal P. Murtagh, Linda Megner, Björn Linder, and Jörg Gumbel

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Cited articles

Chamberlain, J. W.: The Airglow Spectrum, chap. 9, 345–392, American Geophysical Union (AGU), https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118668047.ch9, 1995. a
Deans, A. J., Shepherd, G. G., and Evans, W. F. J.: A rocket measurement of the O2(b1Σg+X3Σg)(0−0) Atmospheric Band in Aurora, Journal of Geophysical Research (1896–1977), 81, 6227–6232, https://doi.org/10.1029/JA081i034p06227, 1976. a, b, c, d, e, f
Feldman, P. D.: Auroral excitation of optical emissions of atomic and molecular oxygen, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 83, 2511–2516, https://doi.org/10.1029/JA083iA06p02511, 1978. a, b, c, d
Gao, H., Xu, J., Chen, G.-M., Zhu, Y., Liu, W., and Wang, C.: Statistical Structure of Nighttime O2 Aurora From SABER and Its Dependence on Geomagnetic and Solar Activities in Winter, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 125, e2020JA028302, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA028302, 2020. a, b
Gattinger, R. L. and Jones, A. V.: Quantitative Spectroscopy of the Aurora. II. The Spectrum of Medium Intensity Aurora Between 4500 and 8900 Å, Canadian Journal of Physics, 52, 2343–2356, https://doi.org/10.1139/p74-305, 1974. a
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Editor-in-chief
This paper presents a statistical analysis of the aurora observed by the Swedish MATS satellite. These observations are new and can be an important contribution to high-latitude mesosphere/lower thermosphere science.
Short summary
This study uses images taken by the Swedish satellite MATS (Mesospheric Airglow Tomography and Spectroscopy) to conduct a statistical analysis of the molecular oxygen atmospheric band emissions in the aurora. This auroral emission can not be observed from the ground, making it one of the least understood auroral emissions. Our results provide a new dataset with information on the peak altitude, geomagnetic location, and auroral intensity of 378 events detected between February and April 2023.
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