Aurora Borealis Seen at Mono Lake!
On the calm, cool night of August 10-11, 2000, I had the wonderful pleasure of observing an unexpected aurora borealis (the "Northern Lights") over the shore of Mono Lake. This occurred during the expected annual Perseid meteor shower overhead - two very different and contrasting celestial shows - until 03:30 am, occurring under a nearly full moon! (And this, only my second viewing of an aurora in 46 years!)
While attempting to record some photographic images of the meteors and moonlight, at South Tufa, I was first aware of "something" above some of the tufa around 01:30 am: soft, faint (in the bright moonlight) vertical "lines" above some of the tufa formations. All I knew was that they weren't meteor trails, which were common that night, and have a very different appearance.
Around 03:45 am, I awoke after a nap in my car in the South Tufa parking area, facing the lake. Immediately, I was aware of the aurora lights "dancing" above the lake in the now darkened sky, and realized what had been seen two hours earlier!
They extended from the northwest (to above Conway Summit) all the way to the eastern Anchorite Hills horizon. To the northeast, towards magnetic north, the lights reached about 20 degrees off the horizon, upward to just beyond halfway to the elevation of the "North Star," Polaris! I didn't perceive any strong visual colorations, mainly very soft pastels, but I was aware of the vertical "curtain" appearance, as they drifted seemingly ever-so-slowly in an eastward moving arc. The lights faded only with the approaching dawn light, growing from the east.
During the "lights," the meteors were still blazing across the skies, radiating from the constellation Perseus, in nearly all compass directions. Many left brilliant trails in their wake, fast and long; dazzling lines. One, in particular, got my immediate attention: just after loading some film, I was distracted by a bright "flash." Being a photographer, my first reaction was looking around for someone (despite being well aware I was complete alone for many miles around!). After maybe a couple seconds, I finally looked up, and directly overhead was the still bright trail, which persisted for yet another 10 or more seconds!
The following warm night, I was again at South Tufa, wandering and photographing until after 1 am, all the while hoping for an encore show. Many detailed studies of the northern sky, however, revealed no repeat performance of those silent lights, dancing softly to the north!
In hindsight, I cannot remember such a wonderful and visually exciting night, in 22 years (and many nights) of exploring, enjoying, and often photographing the Eastern Sierra, especially around Mono Lake.
According to Dr. Tony Phillips, editor of the on-line "www.spacescience.com" - "Geomagnetic activity actually becomes more severe and frequent during the year or so after the sunspot number reaches its peak (which is happening now). I would guess that we might have a half-dozen more such opportunities over the next 24 months at Mono Lake. (In Alaska they might have a hundred nights in that interval with intense aurora.) The trick is being at Mono Lake at the right time. Usually we have no more than 2-3 days notice of a possible auroral storm and, of those, only 10% actually trigger aurora."
The Mono Lake Committee thanks Richard Beebe for sending us this incredible account and giving us permission to post it here.
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