Some morphological features are recurrent but significant time variations are also observed.
A set of WFPC2 images obtained in May 1997 shows that, within a relatively stable general morphology, variations occur inside the polar cap in 4 minutes or less, implying short timescale acceleration processes. A model simulating Earth view of auroral arcs and diffuse emissions in the north polar region has been developed. Simple geometric cases are described to illustrate the dependence on the altitude, atmospheric scale height and central meridian planetary longitude of an idealized auroral morphology seen from Earth orbit. The numerical simulation makes it possible to assess the importance of limb brightening and the contribution from high altitude auroral emission located behind the planetary limb.