Observation of highly rotationally excited NO+ emissions in the thermosphere

✍ Scribed by D.R. Smith; E.R. Huppi; J.O. Wise

• Book ID: 104407046
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1364-6826
• DOI: 10.1016/s1364-6826(00)00109-7

✦ Synopsis

Ro-vibrational band head emissions from highly rotationally-excited NO + (v; J ) (J ¿90) have been observed for quiescent and aurorally disturbed conditions at tangent altitudes between approximately 100 and 215 km in the terrestrial thermosphere. The formation of these band heads in NO + requires very high rotational excitation with rotational energy of at least 1.9 eV. The data were obtained between 28 and 30 April 1991 with the CIRRIS-1A cryogenic interferometer from on board the space shuttle. These are the ÿrst observations of non-thermal rotational emissions from NO + in the airglow. Several possible sources of these non-thermal emissions are discussed. This is the third in a series of recent discoveries (all from the CIRRIS-1A data base) of signiÿcant non-thermal rotational e ects in an important atmospheric species.