Abstract.We examine the variation in the radius of the auroral oval, as measured from auroral images gathered by the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft, in response to solar wind inputs measured by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft for the two year interval June 2000 to May 2002. Our main finding is that the oval radius increases when the ring current, as measured by the Sym-H index, is intensified during geomagnetic storms. We discuss our findings within the context of the expanding/contracting polar cap paradigm, in terms of a modification of substorm onset conditions by the magnetic perturbation associated with the ring current.

The severe geomagnetic effects of solar storms or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are to a large degree determined by their propagation direction with respect to Earth. There is a lack of understanding of the processes that determine their non-radial propagation. Here we present a synthesis of data from seven different space missions of a fast CME, which originated in an active region near the disk centre and, hence, a significant geomagnetic impact was forecasted. However, the CME is demonstrated to be channelled during eruption into a direction +37±10° (longitude) away from its source region, leading only to minimal geomagnetic effects. In situ observations near Earth and Mars confirm the channelled CME motion, and are consistent with an ellipse shape of the CME-driven shock provided by the new Ellipse Evolution model, presented here. The results enhance our understanding of CME propagation and shape, which can help to improve space weather forecasts.

Abstract. We perform two superposed epoch analyses of the auroral evolution during substorms using the FUV instrument on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Explorer (IMAGE) spacecraft. The larger of the two studies includes nearly 2000 substorms. We subdivide the substorms by onset latitude, a measure of the open magnetic flux in the magnetosphere, and determine average auroral images before and after substorm onset, for both electron and proton aurora. Our results indicate that substorms are more intense in terms of auroral brightness when the open flux content of the magnetosphere is larger, and that magnetic flux closure is more significant. The increase in auroral brightness at onset is larger for electrons than protons. We also show that there is a dawn-dusk offset in the location of the electron and proton aurora that mirrors the relative locations of the region 1 and region 2 current systems. Superposed epoch analyses of the solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, and geomagnetic indices for the substorms under study indicate that dayside reconnection is expected to occur at a faster rate prior to low latitude onsets, but also that the ring current is enhanced for these events.