The SCIFER sounding rocket was launched over the dayside aurora, at 10 hr Magnetic Local Time (MLT) on January 25, 1995. Meridian-scanning photometers (MSP) and all-sky television (ASTV) systems were operated at Longyearbyen (LYR) and Ny-¿lesund (NYA) on Svalbard under the flight apogee to facilitate the launch decision and identify the ionospheric signatures of the various energetic particle populations observed at the rocket. The characteristics of the 0.3 eV--15.5 KeV electron populations producing the observed aurora were identified from the time, energy and pitch angle electron spectrometer data throughout the SCIFER flight. The optical data clearly showed the location of the trapping boundary seen by the SCIFER energetic electron spectra. Equatorward of the boundary, pulsating patches of auroral luminosity corresponded in pulsation period and location to the >4 keV energy-dispersed electrons observed at SCIFER. The 10 eV electron flux rather uniformly distributed equatorward from the trapping boundary is accounted for by photoelectrons from the conjugate region, producing most of the 6300 ¿ [OI> emission observed south of the zenith in the MSP data. Poleward of the trapping boundary, relatively bright, discrete arcs and bands typical of the dayside auroral oval were observed. These corresponded to the inverted V and field-aligned electron populations which were observed at SCIFER to be <1 keV characteristic energy and to range from 2 to 5 ergs cm-2 sec-1. The electron populations and the resulting arcs were remarkably similar to those observed on the high latitude nightside (poleward of the trapping boundary) but with obviously different source region. There was no persistent 6300 ¿ [OI> auroral emission observed poleward of the trapping boundary consistent with the particle observations. Hydrogen emissions were associated with the discrete aurora, indicating that the main proton energy flux was poleward of the trapping boundary. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996