The midday red aurora observed at the South Pole on August 5, 1972

A spectacular red aurora was observed and recorded by an all-sky camera at the Amundsen-Scott base between 1400 and 1800 UT on August 5, 1972. Since magnetic noon is about 1530 UT there and since the intense storm of August 4–5, 1972, was in progress at the time, there is no doubt that the red aurora was a magnetic midday phenomenon associated with an extremely intense substorm during the storm. The Dapp (U.S. Air Force Data Acquisition Program) satellite photographs are also used in examining activity during the event.