Conjugate auroral observations under various interplanetary conditions

Recently, it has been possible to observe the entire auroral oval in both the northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously with the IMAGE FUV imagers and Polar VIS Earth camera, respectively. These rare opportunities allow us to study conjugate and non-conjugate effects between the two hemispheres under various interplanetary conditions. This enables us to better understand the transfer of mass and energy from the solar wind to the magnetosphere/ionosphere system. The events we study here are from late 2002 with periods of simultaneous observation lasting between about 35 and 60 minutes. Most events are associated with a steady IMF B_X component, where the IMF B_Y and B_Z components vary.