Observations of O sub 2 ( sup 1. Sigma. ) and OH nightglow during the ALOHA-90 campaign

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 18:7
• Main Authors: Jenghwa Yee, Niciejewski, Rick, Ming Zhao Luo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.1991
• Subjects: AIRGLOW; ALKALI METALS; ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION; CORRELATIONS; EARTH ATMOSPHERE; ELEMENTS; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; GRAVITY WAVES; HYDROXYL RADICALS; INTERFEROMETERS; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; METALS; MONITORING; NONMETALS; OPTICAL RADAR; OSCILLATIONS; OXYGEN; RADAR; RADICALS; RANGE FINDERS 540110; SODIUM; SPECTROSCOPY; TEMPERATURE MONITORING
• ISSN: 0094-8276

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 O{sub 2} 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 O{sub 2} 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 O{sub 2} 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{plus minus}0.3, which is in good agreement with the calculated ratios of 12.9 by Mies (1974) and 10.2 by Langhoff et al. (1986).