STEVE

See also: Steve and steve

English
A STEVE as seen in Manitoba in 2017

Etymology

(2016) Backformation from the nickname "Steve" given to this aurora-like light. Acronym of strong thermal emission velocity enhancement.. The nickname "Steve" resulted from a meeting between citizen scientists and researchers from the University of Calgary at a bar, to discuss the purple light. 'Steve' is the namesake of a cartoon character from the 2006 animated film "Over the Hedge", where cartoon animals try to peek over a suburban hedge. The backronym resulted from researchers creating a meaning to the nickname "Steve", keeping the original nickname for the formal name.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Alternative forms

Noun

STEVE (uncountable)

  1. An aurora-like light found in southern Canada (consistently lower latitude, unlike the aurora borealis which is generally high latitude), composed of a glowing purple ribbon of light, with green spikes coming off obliquely parallel to each other, moving at about 6.5 km/s East to West. Presumably occurs in the southern hemisphere as well.
    • 2018, "On the Origin of STEVE: Particle Precipitation or Ionospheric Skyglow?", Geophysical Research Letters, B. Gallardo‐Lacourt; J. Liang; Y. Nishimura; E. Donovan;, DOI: 10.1029/2018GL078509
      Although STEVE has been documented by amateur night sky watchers for decades, it is an exciting new upper atmospheric phenomenon for the scientific community.
    • 2018, "Historical observations of STEVE", arXiv, Mark Bailey; Conor Byrne; Rok Nezic; David Asher; James Finnegan;, BIBCODE: 2018arXiv180801872B
      Respecting its nickname, they have dubbed the phenomenon STEVE, an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.
    • 2018, "New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere", Science Advances, Elizabeth A. MacDonald et al.;, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0030
      First, in the unfiltered white-light STEVE is a narrow purple band with the strongest emissions saturating to white

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms
  • SAID (subauroral ion drift)
  • aurora

References
  1. New York Times, "That Ghostly, Glowing Light Above Canada? It’s Just Steve", Jacey Fortin, 25 April 2017
  2. New York Times, "Steve, a Famous Northern Light, Stays Mysterious (and Keeps His Name)", Jacey Fortin, 15 March 2018
  3. NASA, "The Aurora Named STEVE", Yvette Smith, 15 March 2018
  4. Popular Mechanics, "Sky Phenomenon 'Steve' Is Finally Explained", Sophie Weiner, 16 March 2018
  5. The Guardian, "‘Steve’: the mystery purple aurora that rivals the northern lights", Emine Saner, 19 March 2018
  6. The Telegraph, "What is Steve? Mysterious aurora seen in Scotland", Helena Horton, 20 March 2018

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