Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

I will be studying the Aurora Australis (southern lights) from the South Pole. It encircles the Antarctic continent and the dayside aurora in particular will be nearly overhead, enabling detailed studies of its dynamics in relation to solar activity. I will use a scanning photometer which will scan the meridian through the south magnetic and geographic poles continuously through each 6-month long austral winter, monitoring both auroral and airglow emissions- for comparisons with my similar recent studies from the northern polar cap and the Aurora Borealis. I will also exploring the structure and dynamics of the polar upper atmosphere  in both hemispheres with a view to gaining further understanding of the whole global circulation at  high latitudes.