What role does the F-region neutral wind play in auroral intensifications?

The thermospheric meridional neutral wind often shows a characteristic decrease in magnitude in relation to auroral intensifications. The decrease precedes the auroral arc activation and stops at the moment of intensification. We present this phenomenon using data from a Fabry-Perot interferometer, incoherent scatter measurements, global auroral images from the Viking satellite and data from other ground-based instruments. The observed decrease of the meridional neutral wind is associated with increased Joule heating prior to the auroral activation, which is interpreted as an indication that the decrease is an effect of increased neutral gas heating.