Comments on "A new method to subtract dayglow for auroral observation of SSUSI in LBH ranges based on the improved AURIC" by Wang et al. (2021). (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Yongliang; Paxton, Larry J.; Schaefer, Robert
• Is Part Of: Journal of atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics. Volume 229(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: Far ultraviolet emission -- Dayglow -- Aurora; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Atmospheric physics -- Periodicals; Géophysique -- Périodiques; Météorologie physique -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 551.51
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2022.105833
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1364-6826

Abstract

Abstract: A paper A new method to subtract dayglow for auroral observation of SSUSI in LBH ranges based on the improved AURIC reports a new method to estimate the dayglow intensities in DMSP/SSUSI LBH bands using an improved AURIC model. It is claimed that the new method offers a better alternative than the SSUSI operational algorithm which uses a data based table. The paper showed a few examples and compared them with SSSUI operational results. The comparison indicated that the new method didn't offer any improvement and provided net auroral images with strong residual dayglow. On the other hand, the auroral oval can be easily recognized in the SSUSI data using the operational algorithm, despite some weak residual background which is expected due to count errors in the data. There are likely a few reasons why the method led to poor results: (1) dayglow contribution in SSUSI data covers solar zenith angles (SZA) beyond 90° and the AURIC model is limited to SZA ≤90°, (2) In addition to SZA, SSUSI radiances also depend on look angle (along and cross track pixels). Such a look-angle effect was apparently not reported in the paper. (3) The localized peaks in the plots (radiance versus SZA) were likely due to changes in solar EUV flux, SZA as well as noises caused Southern Atlantic Anomaly, MeV particles at sub-auroral latitude and glint in the Ap dependent data bins. The examples in the paper indicate that the new algorithm is not appropriate to estimate net SSUSI dayglow intensity. Highlights: The improved method reported in a recent paper did not show improvement in removing dayglow in DMSP/SSUSI data. A data based lookup table in DMSP/SSUSI operational algorithm leads to relatively clean auroral images. The poor results reported in the paper are likely due to the limitation in AURIC model and improper data binning.