The thermospheric auroral red line Angle of Linear Polarization

Jean Lilensten (1) , Mathieu Barthélemy (1) , Gérard Besson (2) , Hervé Lamy , Magnar G. Johnsen , Jøran Moen

1 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
2 UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes

The auroral red line at 630 nm is linearly polarized. Up to now, only its Degree of Linear Polarization had been studied. In this article, we examine for the first time the Angle of Linear Polarization (AoLP) and we compare the measurements to the apparent angle of the magnetic field at the location of the red line emission. We show that the AoLP is a tracer of the magnetic field configuration. This opens new perspectives, both in the frame of space weather and in the field of planetology.

Keywords: ionosphere; polarization

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Jean Lilensten, Mathieu Barthélemy, Gérard Besson, Hervé Lamy, Magnar G. Johnsen, et al.. The thermospheric auroral red line Angle of Linear Polarization. Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, 2016, 121, pp.7125-7134. ⟨10.1002/2016JA022941⟩. ⟨insu-03634248⟩