Probing the Magnetospheric Generator of Quiet Electrostatic Auroral Arcs From Ground Based Optical Observations and Magnetosphere‐ionosphere Coupling Modeling.

Observations of a quiet electrostatic auroral arc by the ALIS network on 5 March 2008 are used to infer a two‐dimensional map of the flux of precipitating energy. Among a family of numerical solutions of a stationary magnetosphere—ionosphere coupling model in which the origin of the arc is a magnetospheric generator interface, we find which generator interface properties best fit the observed precipitating energy flux. The procedure finds that the plasma populations in the generator are colder and more rarefied on one side of the interface and warmer and denser on the other side, similar to a transition between plasma trough and plasma sheet plasmas. The increase of the arc's brightness, the decrease of its thickness and its slight spatial undulation may be driven by an increase of plasma sheet electron temperature in the tailward direction, tangential to the interface, and a local spatial indentation in the dawn‐ward direction. Plain Language Summary: Optical observations of aurora provide information about the local electromagnetic and plasma conditions in the ionosphere where the impact of energetic electrons produces auroral light emissions. The electrons gain energy through acceleration by static or dynamic electric fields along their path from the magnetospheric source to the upper ionized atmosphere where they collide with various atomic species, like oxygen and nitrogen, which emit light at various wavelengths. In this paper we use optical observations of a steady electrostatic auroral arc to identify the conditions in the magnetospheric source that best fit these observations in the context of an electrostatic auroral acceleration model. This way, optical auroral observations from the ground are used as a remote sensing tool to probe the magnetospheric source of the arc. Key Points: A new application using tomographic imaging of electrostatic auroral arcs with ALIS estimates the magnetospheric generator stateThe generator of the arc observed by ALIS appears to be a plasma interface at the contact between trough and plasma sheet‐like plasmasThe arc's longitudinal changes are linked to a tailward increase of electron temperature and dawnward indentation of the generator interface [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]