Contents

• Preface
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Introduction
  • Auroral imaging
    • Auroral height estimations
    • Spectroscopic techniques
  • Summary
  
  
• ALIS, the Auroral Large Imaging System.
  • The ALIS stations
    • Scientific considerations
    • Selecting sites for the ALIS stations
  • IT hardware and infrastructure
    • Computers
    • The NIPU
    • Communication systems
    • Station data storage
    • Data archiving and availability
    • Operating Systems
  • The ALIS control centre
  
  
• The ALIS Imager
  • Some basic concepts
    • Spectral radiant sterance (radiance)
    • The Rayleigh
    • Spectral radiant incidence (irradiance)
    • Number of incident photons
    • The CCD as a scientific imaging detector
    • Quantum efficiency
    • Noise
    • Signal-to-noise ratio
    • The signal-to-noise ratio of an ICCD
    • Threshold of detection and maximum signal
    • Dynamic range
  • Selecting an imager for ALIS
    • Comparison of an ICCD with a CCD imager
    • Frame rate
  • The CCD imager for ALIS
    • The camera head
    • The camera control unit
    • Configuring the imager
    • The user port
    • Operational remarks
  • The optical system
  • Interference filters
    • The filter wheel
  • The camera positioning system
  • Summary
  
  
• Calibrating ALIS
  • Removing the instrument signature
    • Bias removal
    • Dark-current
    • Flat-field correction
    • Bad-pixel correction
    • Summary
  • Intercalibration
    • Absolute calibration
    • Removing the background
    • Related issues
  • Geometrical calibration
  
  
• Controlling ALIS
  • Making an observation with ALIS
    • Modes of operation
    • Alarms and other exceptions
  • OPERA
    • User interfaces
    • AIDA
    • Station software
    • Experiences and future plans
  
  
• Scientific results from ALIS
  • Scientific objectives of ALIS
  • ALIS data analysis
    • Investigations of new data-analysis methods for ALIS
  • Tomography and triangulation
    • Methods, initial studies and simulations
    • Summary of results from computer tomography of ALIS-data
  • HF pump-enhanced airglow
    • The EISCAT Heating facility
    • ALIS observations of enhanced airglow
    • Observations on 16 February 1999
    • Discussion
  • Auroral studies
    • An estimate of the auroral electron spectra
    • Coordinated observations with satellite and radar
    • Auroral vorticity
    • Studies of the ionospheric trough
    • Daytime auroral imaging
    • The relation between the thermospheric neutral wind and auroral events
  • Other studies
    • Polar stratospheric clouds
    • Astronomical applications -- water in a Leonid?
  
  
• Concluding remarks
• The Instrumentation Platform
  • Station housing
  • Environmental subsystems
  • Power subsystems
  • Housekeeping Unit
  • Timing
  • Communication
  • Station computer
  • The mobile imaging platform
  
  
• Data for the ALIS imagers
• Related work
  • A new digital all-sky camera
  • Colour video recordings of aurora
  
  
• Continued operations with ALIS
  • Assessing the present status of ALIS
    • The ALIS imagers
  • Summary
    • A longer perspective
  
  
• Bibliography
• Index
• About this document ...