Motion of aurorae

Using high resolution auroral imagery and particle measurements from the Reimei spacecraft we distinguish ‘Alfvénic’ and ‘quasi‐static’ auroral forms and implement a new multi‐scale wavelet analysis technique to examine how the vorticity in these forms varies as a function of scale transverse to the geomagnetic field. We find from this analysis that the complex motions of aurorae can be described by power‐laws relating spatial scale to optical vorticity. We demonstrate how these relationships naturally arise from the ‘conductance’ of geomagnetic field‐lines and the physics of Alfvén waves.