Auroral influence on ionospheric electron content

A number of earlier investigations have established that regions of enhanced electron concentration in the ionosphere are often associated, both temporally and spatially, with optical auroral features. Attempts to determine whether these enhancements are completely accounted for by the same particle precipitation that causes the aurora have been only partially successful, largely because it is difficult to collect data over a sufficient time with sufficient spatial resolution to permit accurate modelling. This paper attempts to take one more step along this road by using photometer records, taken over a period of three quarters of an hour before a satellite pass, in a model computation to predict the total electron content of the ionosphere as observed during the satellite pass. The procedure is successful when the auroral activity is strong enough to dominate, but is unsuccessful when the aurora is weak and other ionospheric processes dominate.