We present three case studies that examine optical and radar methods for specifying precipitating auroral flux parameters and conductances. Three events were chosen corresponding to moderate nonsubstorm auroral activity with 557.7 nm intensities greater than 1kR. A technique that directly fits the electron number density from a forward electron transport model to alternating code incoherent scatter radar data is presented. A method for determining characteristic energy using neutral temperature observations is compared against estimates from the incoherent scatter radar. These techniques are focused on line‐of‐sight observations that are aligned with the local geomagnetic field. Good agreement is found between the optical and incoherent scatter radar methods for estimates of the average energy, energy flux, and conductances. The Pedersen conductance predicted by Robinson et al. (1987) is in very good agreement with estimates calculated from the incoherent scatter radar observations. However, we present an updated form of the relation by Robinson et al. (1987), ΣH/ΣP=0.57〈E〉0.53, which was found to be more consistent with the incoherent scatter radar observations. These results are limited to similar auroral configurations as in these case studies. Case studies are presented that quantify auroral electron flux parameters and conductance estimates which can be used to specify the magnitude of energy dissipated within the ionosphere resulting from magnetospheric driving.

We present evidence of filamented structure in the auroral ionosphere, observed through enhanced radar echoes produced by plasma instabilities in the filaments. Enhancements are observed in up‐ or down‐shifted ion‐acoustic peaks, or both, with power well above thermal levels. Detailed theoretical understanding of these enhancements is still lacking, and several different theories are currently used to explain the observations. Using an interferometric technique, we have measured the horizontal scales of the structures, and their evolution in time, with unprecedented resolution. To explain simultaneous up‐ and down‐shifted enhancements using theories that could only enhance one of these shoulders, spatial and/or temporal averaging has previously been suggested. However, the present observations show that enhancements occur simultaneously and in the same volume. The observed scale size in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field is comparable to the smaller scale size of optical aurora, which, despite extensive attempts, has not been successfully explained.