Secrets of the Aurora Borealis (Alaska Geographic) - Softcover

Akasofu, Syun-Ichi

9781566610582: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis (Alaska Geographic)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566610583 ISBN 13: 9781566610582

Publisher: Alaska Geographic Society, 2003

Alaska Geographic is an award-winning series that presents the people, places, and wonders of Alaska to the world. Over the past 30 years, Alaska Geographic has earned its reputation as the publication for those who love Alaska. The series boasts more than 100 books to date, featuring communities from Barrow to Ketchikan, animals from bears to dinosaurs, history from the Russian explorers to today, and natural phenomena from the aurora to glaciers. Written by leading experts in their fields, these books are illustrated throughout with world-class photography and include colorful maps for reference.

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From the Publisher:

Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu, founding director of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) in Fairbanks, is one of a handful of distinguished experts on the aurora. In this issue of ALASKA GEOGRAPHIC Dr. Akasofu brings to life myths and facts about the northern lights based on years of intense research.

Photographers Jack Finch and Jan Curtis have worked closely with Dr. Akasofu to produce aurora images and gather data. Jack Finch lives in Fairbanks. Many of his aurora photos supplement the website at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (GI). Jan Curtis is a former staff member of the GI. His aurora images have appeared in numerous books, magazines, and articles. He is currently the state climatologist for Wyoming.

Dr. Akasofu would like to thank his colleagues—senior, contemporary, and junior—who have advanced the understanding of the aurora. Without their efforts, this book wouldn't have been possible. Thanks also go to Kimberly Hayes for administrative support and Tohru Saito for help with diagrams.

From the Author:

The aurora has been the main subject of my research from my graduate student days. It was very fortunate for me that I could join the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a world center of auroral research, when the most extensive international cooperative effort to study the aurora began as one of the subjects of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957-58. Thus, I have participated in the development of auroral research from the beginning of space exploration; satellites are a vital tool in exploring the secrets of the aurora.

Although the aurora has not revealed all of its secrets, auroral scientists have learned a great deal about the aurora during the last 40 years. I have felt that I should share the excitement of exploring auroral secrets with people who are interested in it. Further, auroral research before the IGY has a fascinating history associated with arctic exploration.

As an effort to convey what I learned, I published the first edition of "Aurora Borealis: The Amazing Northern Lights" in 1979. During the last 20 years or so, auroral science has further advanced. The second edition published as "Secrets of the Aurora Borealis." reflects a number of new findings. For example, auroral researchers have succeeded in imaging the whole earth and the aurora well above the north pole and learned a great deal about the aurora. That was the dream we had during the IGY days.

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