Report for: New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere

Title	New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere
Published in	Science Advances, March 2018
DOI	10.1126/sciadv.aaq0030
Pubmed ID	29546244
Authors	Elizabeth A. MacDonald, Eric Donovan, Yukitoshi Nishimura, Nathan A. Case, D. Megan Gillies, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, William E. Archer, Emma L. Spanswick, Notanee Bourassa, Martin Connors, Matthew Heavner, Brian Jackel, Burcu Kosar, David J. Knudsen, Chris Ratzlaff, Ian Schofield
Abstract	A glowing ribbon of purple light running east-west in the night sky has recently been observed by citizen scientists. This narrow, subauroral, visible structure, distinct from the traditional auroral oval, was largely undocumented in the scientific literature and little was known about its formation. Amateur photo sequences showed colors distinctly different from common types of aurora and occasionally indicated magnetic field-aligned substructures. Observations from the Swarm satellite as it crossed the arc have revealed an unusual level of electron temperature enhancement and density depletion, along with a strong westward ion flow, indicating that a pronounced subauroral ion drift (SAID) is associated with this structure. These early results suggest the arc is an optical manifestation of SAID, presenting new opportunities for investigation of the dynamic SAID signatures from the ground. On the basis of the measured ion properties and original citizen science name, we propose to identify this arc as a Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE).

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Twitter Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 254 tweeters who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.

Geographical breakdown

Country	Count	As %
United States	52	20%
Canada	23	9%
United Kingdom	10	4%
Japan	9	4%
Spain	8	3%
Italy	5	2%
France	4	2%
Germany	3	1%
Curaçao	3	1%
Other	24	9%
Unknown	113	44%

Demographic breakdown

Type	Count	As %
Members of the public	200	79%
Scientists	38	15%
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors)	11	4%
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals)	3	1%
Unknown	2	<1%

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 60 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country	Count	As %
Unknown	60	100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status	Count	As %
Researcher	14	23%
Student > Ph. D. Student	9	15%
Student > Master	8	13%
Student > Bachelor	5	8%
Student > Doctoral Student	3	5%
Other	6	10%
Unknown	15	25%

Readers by discipline	Count	As %
Physics and Astronomy	17	28%
Earth and Planetary Sciences	7	12%
Engineering	5	8%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences	2	3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology	2	3%
Other	7	12%
Unknown	20	33%

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1033. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 March 2023.

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#12,911

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Outputs from Science Advances

#178

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Outputs of similar age

#303

of 332,301 outputs

Outputs of similar age from Science Advances

of 227 outputs

Altmetric has tracked 23,406,603 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.

So far Altmetric has tracked 10,217 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 122.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.

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We're also able to compare this research output to 227 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.

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New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere

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