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The concentration of atomic oxygen in the auroral lower thermosphere
Author(s) -
Torr D. G.,
Sharp W. E.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl006i011p00860
Subject(s) - thermosphere , atomic oxygen , altitude (triangle) , atmospheric sciences , oxygen , range (aeronautics) , airglow , volume (thermodynamics) , ionosphere , environmental science , atomic physics , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , physics , chemistry , geophysics , environmental chemistry , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , geometry , mathematics , composite material
A method is described to determine the concentration of atomic oxygen in the altitude range 100 to 160 km in an aurora from the ratio of the volume emission rates of the O(¹S) 5577Å to N 2 + in 3914Å emissions. Applying the technique to previously published measurements it is found that the O density at 100 km is typically about 1 × 10 11 cm −3 . The occurrence of densities in excess of 2 × 10 11 cm −3 in the aurora at 100 km is rare.