Visualising the northern auroral oval
Visualising the northern auroral oval
The centre (middle of the ring) of the auroral oval shown here is located near Ellesmere Island, close to northern Greenland. Auroras appear in a ring around this centre, with the intensity at any given location depending on the time of day and geomagnetic activity. Since auroras are caused by interactions in Earth's magnetosphere, they occur mainly on the night side – which is why the auroral oval appears more intense there.
Credit:
ESA/Holzworth/Meng