A Dynamo Theory of the Aurora and Magnetic Disturbance

Abstract

A model of an aurora regarded as a plane slab of highly ionized air parallel to the geomagnetic field within the ionosphere is examined. The model is stable in the presence of a wind of neutral molecules which, blowing the slab across the geomagnetic field, generates an electric polarization field perpendicular to its faces and a current along its length. This current is concentrated in a small height range and is chiefly due to electron drift.