Publisher's Synopsis
This study reviews the wealth of new information that has been (and is continuously being) generated by satellite and ground-based observations on the aurora.;Opening with a broad overview of why we should continue to be interested by a phenomenon which occurs in the relatively near neighbourhood of the atmosphere, the author points out that several areas of human endeavour are influenced by auroral phenomena. Ground currents induced during intense auroral storms which have been a source of failures in electricity grid systems in Canada and Scandinavia, is just one example.;An appraisal of the history of aurorae, and the way in which historical examinations can provide an insight into determining past activity of the sun, provides a background to the author's main text in which he looks at how the advent of satellite exploration has brought a clearer model for the magnetic environment surrounding the Earth, and provided a clearer picture of the mechanisms behind the aurora. There is comprehensive coverage of a number of topics including the composition and nature of the high atmosphere, causes of mid-latitude aurorae, radio aurorae, noctilucent clouds and, finally, unusual phenomena which may follow rocket launches and experimental gas releases by satellites.
