Arctic winter observations in 2013 by the Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE) show significant transport from the lower-thermosphere to the stratosphere of air enriched in nitric oxide, but depleted in water and methane. The transport is triggered by the Stratospheric Sudden Warming (SSW) on 11 January and is continuously tracked for over 3 months. Ultimately, evidence for lower thermospheric air is seen at 40 km in mid-April. Area integrated nitric oxide (NO) fluxes are compared with previous events in 2004, 2006, and 2009, to show that this event is the second largest in the past 10 years. The SOFIE data are combined with a meteorological analysis to infer descent rates from 40 to 90 km. The descent profile initially peaks near 75 km, shifting downward by approximately 5 km per 10 days. Our work demonstrates the utility of SOFIE tracer measurements in diagnosing vertical transport from the stratosphere to the edge of space.

Infrared emissions from nitric oxide (NO) are the dominant source of radiative cooling between 120 and 200 km and play an important role in determining the energy budget of the Earth's upper atmosphere. The emission arises as a consequence of producing vibrationally excited NO, either by collisions with energetic atomic oxygen or via the reaction of atomic nitrogen with molecular oxygen. The latter process is a potentially important source of cooling, as it can excite the higher vibrational levels (v ≥ 2) of nitric oxide, resulting in the emission of multiple photons. This chemiluminescent emission has been modeled by calculating the level populations of NO(v ≤ 10) considering production from the reaction of N(2D) and N(4S) with O2, along with interlevel cascade due to radiative deexcitation and collisional quenching. We integrate this model into the NCAR TIE‐GCM (Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model) to calculate the contribution of chemiluminescence to infrared emissions from NO in the thermosphere. For day 80 of 2003, it is shown that chemiluminescence accounts for 15–30% of the total column emissions from NO in the sunlit thermosphere between ±50° latitude. More than 60% of the chemiluminescence is produced from v ≥ 3, indicating that these vibrational levels are an important source of thermospheric cooling. Model calculations of the first overtone emission (Δv = 2) are shown to be in agreement with measurements by the Cryogenic Infrared Radiance Instrumentation for Shuttle (CIRRIS‐1A) experiment. A computationally inexpensive parameterization which calculates the chemiluminescence from v ≤ 10 within 5% of the full calculation is also presented.

An accurate estimate of the energy budget (heating and cooling) of the ionosphere and thermosphere, especially during space weather events, has been a challenge. The abundance of nitric oxide (NO), a minor species in the thermosphere, is an important component of energy balance here because its production comes from energy sources able to break the strong bond of molecular nitrogen, and infrared emissions from NO play an important role in thermospheric cooling. Recent studies have significantly improved our understanding of NO chemistry and its relationship to energy deposition in the thermospheric photochemical reactions. In this study, the chemical scheme in the Global Ionosphere‐Thermosphere Model (GITM) is updated to better predict the lower thermospheric NO responses to solar and geomagnetic activity. We investigate the sensitivity of the 5.3‐μm NO emission to F10.7 and Ap indices by comparing the global integrated emission from GITM with an empirical proxy derived from the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry measurements. GITM's total emission agrees well within ±20% of the empirical values. The updated chemistry scheme significantly elevates the level of integrated emission compared to the previous scheme. The inclusion of N2(A)‐related production of NO contributes an additional 5–25% to the emission. Localized enhancement of ~70% in column density and a factor of 3 in column emission are simulated at a moderate geomagnetic level.

Variability in quiet-time GICs at middle latitudes follows a semi-diurnal and annual cycle.• Middle-latitude GIC observations are sensitive to quiet-time magnetic perturbations associated with the Sq current.• GIC quiet-day curves provide a robust baseline for significance analysis of GICs during geomagnetically disturbed times.

Fournier's gangrene is a fatal necrotising fasciitis of the perineum, genitals and lower abdomen. Patients often need an aggressive surgical debridement, and in few cases, a diverting colostomy. We report the case of a 70-year-old man with multiple comorbidities diagnosed with Fournier's gangrene, who underwent debridement and had a wound complication due to faecal contamination. A novel, self-retaining rectal device was used to perform faecal diversion, which subsequently showed wound healing within a week, hence avoiding the need of a colostomy.