Rocket measurements of electron influx during a major magnetic storm with Type-A aurora

A Black Brant 5 rocket was flown during a type A aurora from Fort Churchill on August 17, 1970, carrying an electron spectrometer that recorded the spectrum from 20 ev to 18 kev up to an apogee of 268 km throughout the flight. A major magnetic storm was in progress, and the I6300/I5577 ratio measured on the ground was as high as 4 with a 6300-A brightness of 14 kR. A greatly enhanced low-energy electron flux was observed with a shape in the energy range 0.1–1 kev similar to that of a Maxwellian distribution with characteristic energy of about 300 ev. Details of the electron spectra and the related measurements are presented.