Parallax and atmospheric scattering effects on the inversion of satellite auroral observations

A technique for the inversion of satellite auroral brightness observations is developed, which takes into account the backscattering of light from the snow-covered ground and atmospheric scattering. The theory includes parallax effects. Parallax arises when a point in the aurora is observed from different angles against a background with a variable brightness. It is shown that observations from a spinning satellite at any given angle from nadir are sufficient to recover the auroral form.