Observations of O2 (¹Σ) and OH nightglow during the ALOHA-90 Campaign

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 18; no. 7; pp. 1357 - 1360
• Main Authors: Yee, Jeng-Hwa, Niciejewski, Rick, Luo, Ming Zhao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.1991; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Airglow. Aurora; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Physics of the high neutral atmosphere; Waveform; Oxygen Molecules; Brightness; Nightglow; Column density; Airglow; Sodium; Rotational temperature; Meinel band; Aircraft observation; Upper atmosphere; Spectroscopical observation; Hydroxyl
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/91GL01295

Two spectroscopic instruments, a 1/4 meter Ebert‐Fastie spectrometer and a Michelson interferometer, were flown aboard the NCAR Electra during the ALOHA‐90 campaign. These instruments were designed to carry out measurements of the brightnesses and rotational temperatures of the O2 Atmospheric (0–1) band and several OH Meinel bands simultaneously with sodium lidar observations. The spectrometer results taken during the nights of March 25 and March 31 are reported. Wave‐like oscillations in both O2 and OH airglow brightnesses were clearly present during both flights and a strong positive correlation of OH band brightness with sodium column density was found. A slightly weaker correlation of O2 band brightness with sodium column density was also detected. The measured brightness ratio between the OH (7–4) and (7–3) bands is found to be 11.2±0.3, which is in good agreement with the calculated ratios of 12.8 by Mies [1974] and 10.2 by Langhoff et al. [1986].