Amateur Aurora Chasing – North America Webcam and Weather Stations

Instructions Urls Last Verified and Updated 4-19-2025. K. Fisher fisherka@ipns.com

I. Plan Long-Range: Find CME Arrival Times

II. Plan for Tonight: Forecast Position of the Bright Portion of the Main Aurora Oval

III. Check Weather: Regional Clouds and Aurora Satellite Displays

IV. Station Map (CANMOS)

Source: National Resources Canada, Government of Canada.

V. Observe

(A) Vertical North-to-South Racetracks: High and Low Latitude Webcam and Local Weather Stations

(B) Horizontal East-to-West Racetracks

(1) High-Latitude Webcam and Local Weather Stations

(2) Mid-Latitude Webcam and Local Weather Stations Along the U.S. Canadian Border

VI. Report Sightings

VII. Purpose and Background

The central nightly question for an aurora chaser is "What is the current position of the brightest portion of the main aurora oval?" That position is anti-pole of the Sun on the Earth's dark side and moves from the east to the west in geographic longitude each hour. The position of the main aurora oval also moves north-south in geographic latitude depending on the instant intensity of a solar storm.

First, if your interest is not the current night solar wind, but rather is the likely arrival time of Coronal Mass Ejections over the next few days or tonight, use the section titled "Plan Long-Range: Forecast CME Arrival Times."

Second, the position of the main auroral oval is forecasted by the Ovation Prime 2013 models of the NOAA SWPC and ISWA. See section "Forecast Position of the Bright Portion of the Main Aurora Oval" above. The Ovation Prime model only has an accuracy of about 77 percent. The forecasted position of the main aurora oval in latitude and longitude can be confirmed by several techniques.

Third, involves knowledge of how brightest portion of the main aurora oval moves throughout the night in geographic longitude. Generally, the brightest portion of the main auroal oval is along a line from the North Magnetic Pole and the UTC time offset at the observer's location. That hour angle on the dark side of the Earth is anti-pole to the Sun's position. For example, at Salt Lake City, Utah, the UTC time offset is -7:43 hours:minutes. On any given night, the brightest part of the aurora oval will be pointing at Salt Lake City at 7:43 hours:minutes UTC. Typically, in the winter during Mountain Standard Time, that occurs at 12:43 am MST each night.

Fourth, corroborate the main oval's position in latitude using the CANMOS magnetometer system. See "CANMOS Summary Plot" above. Orange highlighting in the CANMOS magnetometer summary chart indicate regions of higher magnetic disturbance using measurands of rolling nanoTesla variance.

Fifth, consult real-time social media posts in groups like Facebook's "Northern Light Alerts" or Spaceweather.com's "Real-time Aurora Gallery."

Sixth, consult real-time webcameras maintained by reliable governmental and academic entities and the occassional private enthusiast. That technique is the focus here.

Digital webcam aurora chasing is seasonal. After the spring equinox, the northern arctic have progressively longer days such that the late-night aurora arc is washed out by sunlight. Usually around May 1st, daylight is so pervasive at high-northern latitudes above 60 degrees North that high-latitude webcams are not useful for detecting the position of the main aurora oval. Many are shut down for the Arctic summer. After the autumnal equinox, night returns to the northern arctic and with it, the visible main aurora arc.

Extreme coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are not seasonal and may be visible at any time of the year during periods of high sunspot or solar wind activity.

VIII. How to Use this Aurora Chasing Dashboard:

1. Use the section titled "Forecast CME Arrival Times" to identify future likely arrival times of Coronal Mass ejection impacts. The HUXt and the SWPC ENLIL models, in conjunction with the SWPC Narrative Forecast is useful for identifying the expected arrival times of CME wave fronts. The HUXt and SWPC ENLIL are also useful for determining whether wavefronts will directly impact the Earth or will only be glancing blows.
2. Use the Ovation Prime utilities that forecast the position of the main aurora oval to estimate the current position of the brightest portion of the main auroral oval in longitude and latitude. See section "Forecast Position of the Bright Portion of the Main Aurora Oval," above.
3. Use the CANMOS Magnetometer Summary Plot to estimate the position in southern-most latitude of the main aurora oval. See section "Forecast Position," above.
4. Use the Potsdam Hpo30 Index to estimate changes in Kp index at 30 minutes intervals in the short-term future. Might a short-term substorm occur tonight? Use this primarily during active storms.
5. Two duplicate means of searching for the bright arc in the main bright oval are provided: Horizontally along latitude lines progressing from east-west longitude, and vertically along longitude lines from north to south latitudes.
6. The position of the brightest part of the arc in longitude generally points at a station at approximately its "UTC" offset time. The "UTC" time is listed for each station.
7. Identify the web cameras that are closest to the brightest arc portion of the estimated position of the main auroral oval.
8. Check the regional weather nearest the best aurora arc webcam station. See section "Regional Clouds," above. Are the best cameras clouded out? During the winter, they frequently are.
9. Check the local weather station nearest the nearest the best aurora arc webcam station. See sections "High-Latitude Webcams" and "Mid-Latitude Webcams," above. Again, are the best webcam stations clouded out?
10. Select and click the best webcam station to view the applicable webcam for the presence of the main aurora oval. The main auoral oval may be either within the camera's central field or to the south or north of the camera's position at the edge of the field-of-view. Sometimes, the aurora captured on these cameras are dramatic!

IX. Station or Website Specific Notes:

1. Dr. Tamitha Skov: Dr. Skov does a weekly podcast forecasting space weather. She is a highly informative expert and excellent science communicator.
2. SWPC Solar Synoptic Map: Identifies the current Active Region (AR) numbers for sunspot groups on the near-side face of the Sun.
3. SWPC GOES Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) - Thematic Map: Under the "GOES Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI)," choose the Thematic Map by scrolling to the bottom of the selection grid. This thematic map distinguishes active bright regions (that are higher than the mean solar surface) from coronal hole regions (that are lower than the mean solar surface). It is easier to interpret than the daily SWPC Solar Synotic Map. Other images and movies on the SUVI page include the basic suite of solar disk movies in hydrogren alpha, calcium and high temperature iron wavelengths. The golden brown 195 angstrom image reveals the emission of 11-times ionized iron atoms (Fe XII), regions of high solar temperature, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The Thematic Map also succinctly identifies active prominence regions on both solar limbs.
4. University of Alaska at Fairbanks Geophysical Institute: This main oval model is covers tonight's next hours. The model is based on ground magnetometer station historical data. It was the primary model before Ovation Prime. Its predictions are more conservative than Ovation Prime.
5. University of North Dakota: The YouTube url of the North Dakota Physics Department webcam changes nightly. Check the timestamp on this webcam video (and for all other stations) to confirm that you are watching a current real-time video. If prior night's video is being displayed, e.g., for the North Dakota Physics Department webcam, navigate to the top of the provider's YouTube video channel and look for a "Live" video tab.
6. Univ. of Minnesota, Gunflint Trail Center: The url opens to a Google Public Drive. Sort the grid display on descending date. Then open the subdirectory for the current date. Next, sort the subdirectory on descending date. The top jpg file is the most recent image.
7. JPSS Polar Satellite 1 Day Lag Composite Image: On all nights for the following morning, the "JPSS Aurora - Polar 1 day lag" display is useful for retrospective review of last night's events. The JPSS polar view traces the actual position of the bright arc retrospectively for the last 7 hours. This can clarify when and why aurora were or were not visible in various cameras throughout the prior night time. The time to check the JPSS 1 day display is 14-15 UTC (8-9 am MST). The JPSS coverage is time-rolling, and the 12-14 UTC timeframe bests captures the most significant North American coverage for the prior night.
8. JPSS Polar Satellite 1 Hour Lag Composite Image: During the brightest of Kp 6+ storms, the "JPSS Aurora - Polar 1 hour lag" display sometimes shows the position of the bright arc over central and southern Canada with a 1 hour lag time.
9. ISWA graphs: It may be necessary to use the "Clear" button at the top right menu strip to clear the display before using this web application.
10. ISWA ENLIL Forecasts / Nowcasts: The "ENLIL Forecasts Nowcasts" display cannot be loaded by direct url. Use the "Search" button the top menu strip and enter "ENLIL Forecasts / Nowcasts" to find and load the display. This display graphs bother velocity or density. The unique feature of this display is the graph on the right-side. It shows the x-z slice of the solar wind from an observing point from behind (anti-solar) viewpoint. This adds a key dimension for determining where relative to the Earth a CME will pass Earth's orbit. This sub-plot is particularly useful for identifing side-glancing CMEs that may miss the Earth, but that appear to hit the Earth in a top-down North Polar view graph.
11. Potsdam Hp30 Forecast: Scroll down the page to find the applicable planel. This index forecasts a short-term 30 minute Kp Index to estimate changes in Kp index. The Kp Index normally updates every 3 hours. Hp30 fills in with shorter term estimates. Use this primarily during active storms to detect possible substorms.
12. ACE Low-Energy Protons At the ACE Real Time Solar Wind Page, select the option for "Low Energy Protons - Electron Proton Alpha Monitor (EPAMp)." If the arrival of an initial CME wave becomes uncertain, the arrival can often be determined one or two hours in advance using the SOHO ACE proton detector. The five levels of proton energies shown in the graph will be flat. As the wave arrives, the proton levels will rise dramatically over the short term. This will occur before other magnetic indicators increase and-or the high proton levels can be used to distinguish a false magnetic wave signal from a true wave arrival.
13. Northern Lights Alert Facebook Group: Scan the 20 most recent entries. Examine only those images that have fully declared (1) date, (2) time, and (3) location in the header. Images in the Northern Lights Alert social media group can be used to corroborate the recent position of the bright arc in latitude. Most images in this social media group are not useable for confirmation purposes because they are not properly labeled in accordance with community rules. This is a private group and you must join the group to view the images.
14. SpaceWeather.com Real Time Aurora Gallery: Scan the 20 most recent entries. Examine only those images that have fully declared (1) date, (2) time, and (3) location in the header. Images on this commercial site can be used to corroborate the recent position of the bright arc in latitude. Most images in this social media group are not useable due to time lags in posting and-or failure to properly label images for the date-time and location of the exposure.

X. Acknowledgements:

1. AllSkycam.com (Hosting Post Observatory Webcam).
2. AuroraMax, University of Calgary. (Yellowknife Webcam).
3. Banff Sunshine Village, Banff, Alberta, Canada. (Banff Webcam).
4. Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, Minnesota. (Gunflint Webcam).
5. Community Coordinated Modeling Center, Goddard Spaceflight Center, National Atmospheric and Space Administration.
6. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University. (JPSS RAMMB Slider.
7. Danko, Attilla. Clear Sky Clock.
8. Explore Anneberg, LLC. Explore.org. (Churchhill Webcam).
9. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska at Fairbanks. (Poker Flats and Toolik Lake Webcams).
10. GFZ Helmholtz Centre for GOESciences, Section Geomagnetism with Geomagnetic. (Hpo 30 Index).
11. Glacier National Park Conservancy. (Webcam hosting).
12. Greenland Airports, Mittarfeqarfiit. (Webcam hosting).
13. Icelandic Met Office, Government of Iceland.
14. Integrated Space Weather Analysis. (Aurora oval modelling).
15. Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium, Swenson College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota at Duluth. (Gunflint Webcam).
16. Matthews, Christopher, Northern Lights Alert, Facebook Group. (Real time images).
17. National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. (GOES Image Viewer).
18. National Resources Canada, Government of Canada. (CANMOS magnetometer display).
19. Nexlab, Meteorology Department, College of DuPage. (CONUS Weather Image).
20. North Dakota Dual Aurora Cameras, a Student Project at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Dakota, Grand Rapids, North Dakota. (Webcam hosting).
21. Post Observatory, Trenton, MA. (Webcam hosting).
22. Shunk Bay Weather.com. (Webcam hosting).
23. Spaceweather.com (Real time images).
24. Space Weather Prediction Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. (Aurora oval modeling and Solar wind and CME modeling).
25. Starlapland.fi. (Levi Webcam).
26. U.S. Forest Service. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (Gunflint webcam hosting).
27. U.S. National Park Service, Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. (Webcam hosting).
28. U.S. National Park Service, Glacier National Park, Montana. (Webcam hosting).
29. University of Reading, British Isles. (Solar wind and CME modelling).

XI. Revision History:

1. 2024-04-19. Reorganized section orders. Moved "Find Coming CME Waves" from use-order at bottom to logical subject order at top of page. Added "Revision History" section and list.