[frikk]

I have also experienced a strange Aurora phenomenon. My first year living up north I was lucky enough to catch the northern lights. They were gray (not green) but really fun. A kind of camo-patterened pulsing, flickering in and out, with ripples that would move through it.

Eventually they moved from the northern horizon to entirely overhead, and even into the southern horizon. The overall pattern continued: pulses of circles fading in and out like blinking neon light, with waves crashing through and across the entire thing, slowly. Still gray, never green.

Then I noticed that the waves would all "sink" into a single spot in the sky. Directly overhead was a "dark spot" in the borealis, and it moved around slightly and had this wicked looking "interference" pattern around it, like what you'd expect to see with two magnets interfering.

Over and over the waves would ripple from the north and "sink" into this dark spot. The hole itself seemed to pulse as the waves moved around and ultimately into it. Kind of felt like it was a kind of magnetic pole. Not sure. The aurora itself (patterns of blinking, pulsing, shimmering) continued into the southern sky, but the dark hole was right overhead.

I haven't been able to really find anyone else who has experienced this. Just wanted to share.

[mskullcap]

I have seen something similar. A spectacular display in the mid-90's in February at Big Trout Lake Ontario; I watched it from the lake on the winter road. The entire sky would react to waves of energy, and there was a dark hole - as you described - in the middle of the sky. I have never seen such a dramatic display of aurora, with such strange patterns (vs the typical whisps of light) before or after.

[snowwrestler]

Depending on where you were, it might have actually been the Earth's north magnetic pole.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole

Edit to add that the aurora happens in the upper atmosphere, so its interaction with the magnetic pole would be visible over long distances of the Earth's surface.