High spatial and temporal resolution imaging from space and from the ground continues to improve our understanding of auroral dynamics. The ultraviolet imager on the Viking spacecraft gives global information on the activity of the auroral distribution. The ground-based optical facility at Swedish Institute of Space Physics, in Kiruna, Sweden, gives information on the finer-scale auroral structure. Simultaneous satellite- and ground-based measurements using this instrumentation were obtained for three selected events during the spring of 1986. For some aspects we find a remarkable correspondence of particular features observed from space and from the ground. For others the different views are complementary in nature. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive picture of presubstorm, substorm, and postsubstorm dynamics. The major findings are (1) a narrow active rayed arc set within a background of softer precipitation that defines what is generally called the ''diffuse'' aurora, with repeated fading on the time scales of 5 min; (2) a period of rapid convection manifested by the disappearance of transpolar arcs and the onset of undulations of the poleward boundary arc observed well before substorm onset; and (3) two clearly separated latitudinal regions following substorm onset, the poleward one being more variable on a time scales of 10 min, but the equatorward boundary a coherent pulsating feature with periods in the range 1--3 min. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990