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Upper atmosphere imaging
Published on October 16, 2025
The upper atmosphere refers to the atmosphere around 80 km to 400 km in height. It is in the boundary region between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, and part of the atmosphere is in an ionized plasma state. The interaction between the plasma and the atmosphere causes auroras in polar atmosphere in both hemispheres. In the mid and low latitudes, there is also a luminous phenomenon called nighttime airglow.
In a word, “observation of aurora” means that there are various types of aurora and various points to observe. It is a very diverse field as a research theme, and not only is an aurora mysterious in appearance, but the phenomena are not yet fully understood? As a result, it is said to be a mysterious phenomenon.
This time, we asked Professor Yoshizumi Miyoshi of the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, who is working on high-speed imaging of the luminescence phenomenon occurring in the brilliance of the aurora, about his measurements of the dynamics of the upper atmosphere and the importance of high sensitivity, high resolution, and high speed imaging.
Aurora is a clue to what is happening in outer space
－Can you tell us what you can learn by observing the aurora, and the purpose of the observation?
Aurora is a phenomenon in which electrons and ions in outer space fall into the upper atmosphere of the Earth and emit light. Therefore studying the brightness, movement and shape of the aurora can give us clues to what is happening in outer space. There is a long history of aurora observations, within this history new devices to aid observation have been introduced, such as cameras, CCDs, EM-CCDs and CMOS.
The era of high-speed precision aurora observation has come, and we are discovering more and more drastic changes in the aurora and fine structures that cannot be seen with the naked eye. In other words, the fact that there is a mechanism that creates such fast changes and small changes in outer space leads to an understanding that such a new mechanism is occurring in outer space. Of course, auroras are beautiful and enjoyable to look at, but it is already essential for space research to chase fast, small, and faint luminescence that occur within these phenomena, which are invisible to the eye. I feel the arrival of a new era through cutting-edge aurora research.
To briefly introduce the efforts of our research group, for example, there is a satellite called Arase, which was launched by JAXA in 2016, and it observes the variations of electrons and ions, called plasma, as well as fluctuations of electric and magnetic fields, called plasma waves, in space. Currently, an EM-CCD camera is observing the aurora glowing in the upper atmosphere, which is connected to the Arase satellite by magnetic field lines. By combining satellite and ground-based observations, we are investigating the relationship between auroras observed by the EM-CCD camera and phenomena occurring in space; for example, “What is happening in space when this kind of aurora is observed?” We have been continuously imaging auroras at a speed of 100 Hz using the EM-CCD camera, and we are seeing a world that we could only see at this high speed, so we hope to clarify the mechanism that produces such phenomena.
Observation (camera: ImagEM® X2 EM-CCD camera)
Faster, finer, and wider field of view. A camera that evolves with the progress of research is needed
－You have told us about the history of the improvement of camera detection performance as research progressed. Is there anything you want to see in the evolution of cameras for current and future research?
Of course, what to look at in the aurora depends on researchers, but I think there are two major factors. The first is the direction of “faster, finer, higher resolution and higher time resolution”. On the other hand, if you pursue such a direction, you will end up with a narrow field of view, even though it has high temporal resolution and spatial resolution. The world is entering the era of 4K displays and 8K, and I would like to aim for the same thing with aurora observation, and would like to have a camera that makes such things possible.
The other is that aurora is a phenomenon that occurs in various places on the earth, so we would like to deploy cameras at multiple points so that the fields of view of each camera overlap, and connect them all with a network to capture images with high temporal and spatial resolution. For example, the aurora that can be seen from a single location is about 500 km square. However, even if you go to the next longitude, or south or north, you may see the aurora continuously. In order to observe such aurora, recently, a method called a network has become highly advanced, in which many cameras are placed here and there to observe auroras on global scale. We are thinking not only to take images with high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution, but also to observe the fluctuation of the aurora on a pan-global scale by laying out cameras in a row. To do that, we need to have good-performance cameras in many places, and I hope that will be possible.
“Space weather forecast” to work on as basic research
－You have been giving lectures for high school students with the word "space weather". Do you see such things in real time in your daily work?
Since I work at a university, I am doing basic research on space weather and space weather forecasts. Ordinary weather forecasts are sent by the Japan Meteorological Agency, but in the case of space weather, they are sent by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Japan. We are conducting basic research that leads to higher prediction accuracy, and research on changes in the space environment. In that research, we analyze data from artificial satellites and ground observations, perform simulations, and install EM-CCD and CMOS cameras in Scandinavia and North America for observation.
It is often said that auroras are “a manifestation of space weather”. For example, when there is an explosion on the sun, a large amount of plasma, much larger than the Earth, flies from the sun to the Earth.
When this happens, the space around the Earth is disturbed and becomes a “storm”, which may affect satellites and communications.
When it gets really bad, it can affect aircrafts flying above us, so we sometimes have to take measures such as lowering the latitude of our flights because aircraft flying over the North Pole are likely to be affected. At this time, the aurora may be stronger than usual, and may also be seen at lower latitudes where it is not usually seen.
The phenomena happening on Earth and in space are all connected, so studying changes in the aurora is directly related to understanding how the connection between the Sun and Earth is changing and what is happening in space. It’s not just studying the aurora.
Our camera installed at the aurora observatory at the Poker Flat Research Range of the University of Alaska
Researcher profile
Yoshizumi Miyoshi, Ph.D.
Professor, Institute for space and earth environment, Nagoya University.
After graduating from the graduate school of science, Tohoku University, he was a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and a visiting scholar at the University of New Hampshire, USA.
From 2004, he was a research associate and assistant professor at the Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Environmental Studies (now the Institute for Space and Earth Studies), Nagoya University, and then an associate professor before assuming his current position in 2018.
Project scientist of the JAXA ERG (Arase) satellite project.
Miyoshi specializes in space physics and terrestrial and planetary magnetospheric physics. He has been engaged in the analysis and simulation of satellite observation data and ultrafast imaging observations of aurorae.
He received the Young Scientist Award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japan Geoscience Union’s Earth and Planetary Science Promotion Nishida Award, Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Tanakadate Award, the Inoue Science Award, and others.
*The content presented on this page is based on an interview conducted in January 2021.
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