Antarctic Dictionary
aurora
aurora Pl. usually auroras, sometimes aurorae or aurora
[Spec. use of aurora which has been used since 1621 for a luminous atmospheric phenomenon in the vicinity of the earth's magnetic poles (NOED).]
The aurora australis or southern lights.
1879 (Kerguelen Island) Eaton, A.E. in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 168: 4.
While the English were in Royal Sound the glimmer of distant lightning was seen one night in the direction of Mount Ross; but this was a very exceptional occurrence. Such displays of the aurora as were observed were not remarkable for their brilliancy.
22 Feb 1898 Cook, Frederick A. (1980 repr.) Through the first Antarctic night 1898-1899 McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal: 184.
We have seen the stars and the moon but once since entering the Pacific, and, to the present, there have been no auroras visible.
3 Jul 1911 Bowers, Birdie in Seaver, George (1951) 'Birdie' Bowers of the Antarctic John Murray, London: 206.
"We had auroras the like of which I have never imagined. At times the sky was ablaze with brilliant curtains of light being shaken along as if by a breeze and whirling into vortices or opening like a vast mushroom overhead, at other times shafts like searchlight beams, We lay flat on our backs and looked up at them."
1914 Priestley, Raymond E. (1974 repr.) Antarctic adventure: Scott's northern party Melbourne University Press: 96.
The Antarctic Aurora as a rule is a poor show when compared with its fellow in the north.
14 April 1934 Byrd, Richard E. (1939) Alone Reader's Union Ltd and Putnam & Co Ltd, London: 85.
In the north-east a silver-green serpentine aurora pulsed and quivered gently.
1949 Scholes, Arthur Fourteen men: story of the Australian Antarctic Expedition to Heard Island F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne: 130.
The aurorae occur in the Antarctic regions, with maximum frequency on the circumference of a circle about twenty-three degrees from the magnetic axis pole.
1958 (Shackleton Base) Fuchs, Sir Vivian and Hillary, Sir Edmund The crossing of Antarctica: the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 Cassell & Co, London: 53.
Aurora too appeared as curtains of wavering light, changing their form, intensity and colour from minute to minute. Usually these displays were white, but sometimes they were tinged with red and green, colours that pulsated against the dark background of the polar night.
1971 Gledhill, J.A. in South African Journal of Antarctic Research 1: 5.
The aurorae are caused by the interaction of charged particles with the upper atmospheric gases.
1978 Bechervaise, John Science: men on ice in Antarctica. Australian Life Series Lothian Publishing Co, Melbourne: 83.
To stand in the open air, even in temperatures far below freezing, and watch the aurora, is one of the most rewarding experiences of the polar regions.
1991 Hooper, Meredith A for Antarctica: facts and stories from the frozen South Pan Books, London: 22. The aurora australis can reach from one hundred to one thousand kilometres up into the sky ... Aurorae can occur night after night.
1995 Orsman, Chris in Sport [Wellington] : 14 (Apr): 6.
The wind has dropped and southwards over the pole the Aurora fuses messages of the far away. aurora australis noun
The southern lights, a visible play of light in the dark sky, the result of charged solar particles channelled by the earth's magnetic field into the polar regions, where they cause gases to fluoresce in the upper atmosphere. They are also called the aurora (polaris), polar light, and southern aurora or southern lights.
17 Feb 1773 Cook, James (1777) A voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world. Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, In the Years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775 Libraries Board of South Australia facs, Adelaide (1970): 53.
Between midnight and three o'clock in the morning, lights were seen in the heavens, similar to those in the northern hemisphere, known by the name of Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights; but I never heard of the Aurora Australis being seen before. The officer of the watch observed, that it sometimes broke out in spiral rays, and in a circular form; then its light was very strong, and its appearance beautiful. He could not perceive it had any particular dire[ct]ion; for it appeared, at various times, in different parts of the heavens, and diffused its light throughout the whole atmosphere.
17 Feb 1840 (nr 97deg.37'E, 64deg.S) Wilkes, Charles in Murray, George, ed. (1901) The Antarctic manual, for the use of the expedition of 1901 Royal Geographical Society, London: 403.
Between ten and eleven oclock at night .. we were gratified with a splendid exhibition of the Aurora Australis. It exceeded anything .. I had heretofore witnessed; its activity was inconceivable, darting from the zenith to the horizon in all directions in the most brilliant coruscations .. flashed in brilliant pencillings of light, like sparks of electric fluid in vacuo,and reappear again to vanish; forming themselves into one body, like an umbrella, or fan, shut up; again emerging to flit across the sky with the rapidity of light, they showed all the prismatic colours at once or in quick succession.
1943 Carmichael, Hugh in Polar Record 4(25) Jan: 12.
The aurora is a peculiar glow visible in cloud-free night sky. It is most frequently seen in high latitudes, but during very intense displays it may occur even in the tropics. The aurora in the northern hemisphere is called the aurora borealis; in the southern aurora australis.
1958 Bursey, Jack Antarctic night Longman, Green & Co., London: 74.
Our first glimpse of the waving, weaving curtains of the aurora australis.
1986 Fraser, Conon Beyond the roaring forties: New Zealand's subantarctic islands Government Printing Office Publishing, Wellington: 168.
On fine nights, the aurora australis may be seen, an atmospheric phenomenon caused by charged particles from the sun bombarding the atmosphere and coming under the influence of the earth's magnetic field. Such displays are most frequent in high latitudes, where the lines of magnetic force converge.
The Antarctic Dictionary, Hince, 2000; 36
