Great aurora

spaceweb@oulu.fi - last update: 22 September 1998, 1640 UT (RR)

Great magnetic storm are often related with auroras of high visual brightness that are seen at exceptionally low latitudes. Especially, two types of high altitude red auroras are seen:

type-A red aurora
high altitude sunlit auroral rays

For more information, see low-latitude aurorae.

Historical events

Type A red aurora can be seen only during the main phase of the strongest magnetic storms. Here is a list of some famous historical events (from Vallance Jones, 1992):

Date A.D.	Seen in
37	Rome
Oct 5, 1591	Nuremberg
Feb 10, 1681	Pressberg, Hungary
Mar 17, 1716	Europe
Sept 15, 1839	London
Aug 28, 1859	N. America, Jamaica, Rome
Sept 2, 1859	N. America, S. Salvador, Athens
Feb 4, 1872	Bombay, Mexico, Athens (zenith)
Sept 25, 1909	Singapore
Mar 22-23, 1920	Oslo, Washington
May 14-15, 1921	Samoa (13S), Jamaica
Jan 26, 1926	Scandinavia
Jan 25-26, 1938	Oslo, Azores, N. Africa

Of these, the ones in 1859 were very important as they resulted in papers about such novel findings as solar flares and geomagnetic pulsations. In addition, here are some more recent events (same source):

Date A.D.	Notes
Feb 24-25, 1956	Alaska
Sept 13, 1957	Mexico
Sept 22, 1957	Mexico
Feb 10-11, 1958	N. America, Mexico, USSR
Sept 3-4, 1958	Canada
Sept 4-5, 1958	Canada
Nov 27, 1959
Mar 23-24, 1969
Mar 8, 1970
Aug 17, 1970	Rocket obs.
Dec 17-18, 1971
Aug 4, 1972	ISIS-II, SAR arc
Dec 1-2, 1977	Morning-dayside
Mar 5, 1981	Thermal, Boulder
Apr 13, 1981	Arizona
July 13-14, 1982	Major storm
Mar 13, 1989	Great aurora
Nov 8-9, 1991	Great aurora (McEwen and Huang, 1995)

Note how the sunspot cycle is reflected in the occurrence of great aurora:

References

McEwen, D. J. and K. Huang, The polar onset and development of the November 8 and 9, 1991, global red aurora, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 19585-19594, 1995.
Vallance Jones, A., Historical review of great aurora, Can. J. Phys., 70, 479-487, 1992.