Saucers are upward-propagating emissions that usually last only seconds. The short time duration of the saucers is the most significant spectral difference between these emissions and the broadband auroral hiss found in the same region. On the audio tape, the saucers have distinct falling and rising tones.
In a wideband spectrogram from March 27, 1996, two distinct saucers can be seen over-lapping each other. The V-shaped saucer is centered on 20:05:42 UT and extends in frequency up to 5 kHz. The dish-shaped saucer is centered on 20:05:47 UT and extends in frequency up to 2.5 kHz. Both saucers are found on dayside auroral field lines near the poleward edge of the auroral zone. For this pass, the wideband receiver was connected to the electric Eu antenna.