Artwork by Noatak, Alaska student Jason Mills

STUDENT RESOURCES:

• Frequently asked aurora questions from students and teachers
• Links for students
• Teacher-suggested reading
• Scientist Mentors and villages served

FREQUENTLY ASKED AURORA QUESTIONS FROM STUDENTS AND TEACHERS:

What causes the aurora?
The aurora is caused by a powerful electrical discharge in the sky, similar to lightning. High-energy electrons generated by the discharge hit atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, which give off light. The auroral discharge is far more powerful than lightning.
-- Asahi Aurora Classroom, UAF Geophysical Institute

I know the aurora in the northern hemisphere is called the aurora borealis, but what is the aurora called in the southern hemisphere?
The aurora in the southern hemisphere is called the aurora australis. Interestingly, the aurora australis is almost a mirror image of the aurora borealis.
-- Lori Schoening, Aurora Alive Education Specialist

Where can the aurora borealis be seen?
The aurora borealis can be seen best along the belt that connects central Alaska, the Great Slave Lakes (Yellowknife) in Canada, the southern timp of Greenland, Iceland, and the northern tip of Scandinavia.
-- Asahi Aurora Classroom, UAF Geophysical Institute

Intense auroras can be seen in the continental U.S., particularly in the north, when solar activity is high.
-- Aurora Information Sheet, UAF Geophysical Institute

When is the best time to see the aurora?
The aurora is likely to be visible from September to March and especially around the time of the equinoxes (September 21 and March 21). The spring months of January through April are often the best time to view the aurora because of better weather, however fall can be just as cooperative weather-wise. Best viewing time is at 1:30 a.m. daylight-saving time in Alaska's time zone. From mid-August through the beginning of May, weekly forecasts of auroral activity can be accessed through the UAF Geophysical Institute's Web site at www.gi.alaska.edu.
-- Neal Brown, Assistant Professor of Physics and Aurora Alive Professional Development Instructor

Is the aurora harmful?
The aurora can cause a variety of problems. It can disrupt radio communications, damage satellites, and disrupt power stations and power lines resulting in power outages. The high-enery electrons that produce the aurora may be hazardous to astronauts in space so they should remain in the spacecraft when it flies through an aurora. Here on earth's surface we are safe. We live and travel in only the first 14km (8 miles) of Earth's atmosphere, nearly 100km (60 miles) below the aurora. Because of the protective role of the atmosphere, the aurora and the high-energy electrons that produce it (under normal conditions) pose no known health risks, such as those from radiation or electric shock.
-- Asahi Aurora Classroom, UAF Geophysical Institute

Can an airplane fly through the aurora?
No. The lower edge of the auroral curtain is 60 to 70 miles above Earth, which is about ten times higher than a jet aircraft flies.
-- Aurora Information Sheet, UAF Geophysical Institute

What causes the different colors of the aurora?
Auroral color depends on the type of atoms and molecules struck by the energetic particles that rain down along Earth's magnetic field lines in the discharge process. Earth atmospheric gas glows with a specific color. For instance, green is produced by oxygen atoms at roughly 60 miles altitude.
-- Aurora Information Sheet, UAF Geophysical Institute

Is it true that Earth's magnetic field could disappear within the next 1,000 years?
No. As long as Earth has a liquid core we will have a magnetic field, and Earth will have a liquid core for a few billion years to come.
-- Dirk Lummerzheim, Aurora Alive Scienctist Mentor

Is it true that, without a stable magnetic field, Earth would not have northern or southern lights (aurora)?
That is, in fact, the case. If the magnetic field were to get weak and unstable, and lose its dipole structure, we also would lose the present magnetosphere. Then, we would not have the processes that shape and make the aurora as we know it. Instead, we would have the solar wind interacting with the upper atmosphere or remaining unstructured magnetosphere. This would still produce aurora, but that aurora would look very different from today's aurora. It woud endeed be everywhere, but it would be dim and diffuse, not the exciting curtains we see nowadays. There is an example of this happening in our own solar system on Venus. Venus has no magnetic field, but a nice, thick atmosphere. The aurora there is so weak that only the most sensitive instruments can see any of it at all. So, if we have just a little bit of a magnetic field, we would have aurora somewhere between the Venusian aurora (almost non-existent) and the spectacular Earth aurora.
-- Dirk Lummerzheim, Aurora Alive Scienctist Mentor

Are Earth's magnetic poles going to shift soon?
In the history of Earth, the magnetic field often has reversed direction. Over the last 4 million years there have been 13 documented reversals. They tend to happen either right after one another, or at fairly large time intervals. Many reverslas have about 300,000 to 500,000 years in between, but several only have about 50,000 years in between. The last one was about 700,000 years ago, so you might think we are due for another one.

Nobody really knows how such a reversal is going to happen, or how long it is going to take. Some theories predict that it would take about 1,000 years to switch from one direction to the opposite. Some theories predict that the magnetic field will get weak, almost go away, and eventually pop up again, and maybe do this many times over a period of 1,000 years. In that case, the whole process of reversal also would take 1,000 years, but that millenium would almost be without a field, or at least with a very variable and chaotic field.
-- Dirk Lummerzheim, Aurora Alive Scienctist Mentor

Is it true that within the next thirty years the aurora will disappear...a student's mom said she heard it on the discovery channel or the news?
I believe this story is based on an American Geophysical Union contribution from a physicist working in paleo-magnetic field. He had studied the ancient history of Earth's magnetic field and compared that to contemporary observations. From that he draws the conclusion that the current movement of the dip-pole is likely to continue. This would place the dip-pole, which is currently in northern Canada and moving north-east, close to the Siberian coast in about 50-100 years.

As you know from the Aurora Alive, there is a difference between the dip pole (where the magnetic field is vertical at the surface of Earth) and the dipole pole, which is the one that the aurora cares about. Historical evidence shows that the dipole pole also moves whenever the dip-pole moves, so it is likely that the dipole will also move towards the NE, but at a slower pace and not as far. The aurora would thus only move slowly towards the north in Alaska. That means that in 100 years, instead of having the most probable auroral occurance over Ft Yukon, it would be over the Brooks Range or Barrow or something like that.
-- Dirk Lummerzheim, Aurora Alive Scienctist Mentor

View FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about Aurora Alive

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LINKS FOR STUDENTS:

About the University of Alaska:

• University of Alaska Statewide
• University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• Geophysical Institute
• International Arctic Research Center
• UAF School of Education
• UAF College of Rural Alaska
• UAF Department of Alaska Native & Rural Development
• UAF Center for Distance Education
• UAF Rural Alaska Honors Institute
• UAF Rural Student Services

About the aurora:

• Frequently Asked Questions about the Aurora with Answers by Dr. Syun-ichi Akasofu - Asahi Aurora Classroom
• Aurora Forecast and Alert Service (daily forecast inactive during summer months when the night sky is too bright to view the aurora in the northern latitudes, but the alert service is year-around) - UAF Geophysical Institute

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TEACHER-SUGGESTED READING:

Light Shows in the Night Sky: Auroras, by Donna Walsh Shepherd
The Sun: Living With the Stormy Star, in National Geographic Magazine, July 2004

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SCIENTIST MENTORS AND VILLAGES SERVED:

ROGER SMITH, Geophysical Institute Director
Smith studies aurora dynamics at high latitudes. Smith mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of SAVOONGA, GAMBELL and DIOMEDE.

SYUN AKASOFU, International Arctic Research Center Director
Akasofu's world-renowned research has become the foundation of aurora studies around the globe. Akasofu mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of ARCTIC VILLAGE, STEVENS VILLAGE and BEAVER.

WILLIAM BRISTOW, Assistant Professor, Geophysical Institute
Bristow uses a network of radars to study the aurora. Bristow mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of UNALAKLEET, ST. MICHAEL and STEBBINS.

JOHN CRAVEN, Professor of Physics, Geophysical Institute
Craven designs instruments for spacecraft used to study the aurora.

CHARLES DEEHR, Professor Emeritus, Geophysical Institute
Deehr produces international Internet aurora forecasts. Deehr mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of STEVENS VILLAGE, HUGHES and HUSLIA.

NETTIE LA BELLE-HAMER, Alaska Satellite Facility Director, Geophysical Institute
La Belle-Hamer studies radar images of Alaska that can be used in auroral research. La Belle-Hamer mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of MINTO, RUBY and GALENA.

DIRK LUMMERZHEIM, Research Professor, Geophysical Institute
Lummerzheim studies aurora processes and arc formation. Lummerzheim mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of SHISHMAREF, TELLER and BREVIG MISSION.

DANA MOUDRY, Post-doctoral Fellow, Geophysical Institute
Moudry uses remote sensing to study the ionosphere, where the aurora occurs. Moudry mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of FT. YUKON, VENETIE and CHALKYITSIK.

ANTONIUS OTTO, Physics Professor, Geophysical Institute
Otto researches aurora dynamics and structures. Otto mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of CIRCLE, NULATO and NOME.

WEI SUN, Research Associate, Geophysical Institute
Sun studies aurora magnetic storms and space weather. Sun mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of ARCTIC VILLAGE, KOYUKUK, and NULATO.

BRENTON WATKINS, Physics Professor, Geophysical Institute
Watkins uses radar to perform research and numerical modeling of aurora phenomena. Watkins mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of KOYUK, SHAKTOOLIK and WALES.

HEINZ WIECHEN, Associate Professor, Geophysical Institute
Wiechen researches aurora-related dynamics and magnetospheric processes. Wiechen mentors Aurora Alive students in the villages of WHITE MOUNTAIN, GOLOVIN and ELIM.

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