Global observations of nitric oxide in the thermosphere

Barth, C. A.; Mankoff, Kenneth D.; Bailey, S. M.; Solomon, Stanley C.

doi:10.1029/2002ja009458

Cited by 150 publications

(252 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Solar soft X-ray irradiance is the primary energy driver for producing NO at low latitudes [Barth et al, 1988]. At high latitudes, auroral electrons are considered to be the primary source of energy that leads to enhanced NO production [Siskind et al, 1989;Saetre et al, 2007;Barth et al, 2003]. More recently, there has been a greater appreciation for the role of highlatitude Joule heating in NO production, primarily because the production rates are so sensitive to the temperature [Barth et al, 2009;Barth, 2010].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

et al. 2011

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[1] The total Poynting flux flowing into both polar hemispheres as a function of time, computed with an empirical model, is compared with measurements of neutral densities in the thermosphere at two altitudes obtained from accelerometers on the CHAMP and GRACE satellites. The Jacchia-Bowman 2008 empirical thermospheric density model (JB2008) is used to facilitate the comparison. This model calculates a background level for the "global nighttime minimum exospheric temperature," T c , from solar indices. Corrections to this background level due to auroral heating, DT c , are presently computed from the Dst index. A proxy measurement of this temperature difference, DT c , is obtained by matching the CHAMP and GRACE density measurements with the JB2008 model. Through the use of a differential equation, the DT c correction can be predicted from IMF values. The resulting calculations correlate very well with the orbit-averaged measurements of DT c , and correlate better than the values derived from Dst. Results indicate that the thermosphere cools faster following time periods with greater ionospheric heating. The enhanced cooling is likely due to nitric oxide (NO) that is produced at a higher rate in proportion to the ionospheric heating, and this effect is simulated in the differential equations. As the DT c temperature correction from this model can be used as a direct substitute for the Dst-derived correction that is now used in JB200, it could be possible to predict DT c with greater accuracy and lead time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

et al. 2011

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“…[11] The calculated NO densities for the time and place of the rocket measurements are shown in Figure 1 along with measurements by the SNOE (Student Nitric Oxide Explorer) satellite [Barth et al, 2003]. The satellite measurements are for local time 10 -11 am, for periods of high geomagnetic activity around the equinoxes in 1998 -2000 and are a global average for 65°geomagnetic latitude.…”

Section: Prediction Of No Densitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These conditions differ from those of the rocket measurements, and hence of the current calculations, in that solar activity is estimated (using the MSISE-90 model) to be higher on average, solar input is less (as the rocket measurements were made on April 13th, closer to midsummer) and the rocket measurements were made at $11 pm. The estimated 18% uncertainty in the measured densities and the height resolution [Barth et al, 2003] is indicated by error bars drawn at one height.…”

Section: Prediction Of No Densitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electron impact contribution to infrared NO emissions in auroral conditions

Campbell

Brunger

2007

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] Infrared emissions from nitric oxide, other than nightglow, are observed in aurora, principally due to a chemiluminescent reaction between excited nitrogen atoms and oxygen molecules that produces vibrationally excited NO. The rates for this chemiluminescent reaction have recently been revised. Based on new measurements of electron impact vibrational excitation of NO, it has been suggested that electron impact may also be significant in producing auroral NO emissions. We show results of a detailed calculation which predicts the infrared spectrum observed in rocket measurements, using the revised chemiluminescent rates and including electron impact excitation. For emissions from the second vibrational level and above, the shape of the spectrum can be reproduced within the statistical errors of the analysis of the measurements, although there is an unexplained discrepancy in the absolute value of the emissions. The inclusion of electron impact improves the agreement of the shape of the predicted spectrum with the measurements by accounting for part of the previously unexplained peak in emissions from the first vibrational level. Citation: Campbell, L., and M. J. Brunger (2007), Electron impact contribution to infrared NO emissions in auroral conditions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L22102,

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“…Since the nominal scans are carried out only up to about 91 km, they do not sample the lower thermosphere where the largest NO densities are typically located, above ≈ 100 km (Barth et al, 2003;Marsh et al, 2004;Minschwaner et al, 2004;Funke et al, 2005; Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 210 S. Bender et al: SCIAMACHY nominal NO retrieval 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retrieval of nitric oxide in the mesosphere from SCIAMACHY nominal limb spectra

Bender¹,

Sinnhuber²,

Langowski³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. We present a retrieval algorithm for nitric oxide (NO) number densities from measurements from the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY, on Envisat) nominal limb mode (0-91 km). The NO number densities are derived from atmospheric emissions in the gamma bands in the range 230-300 nm, measured by the SCIAMACHY ultra-violet (UV) channel 1. The retrieval is adapted from the mesosphere and lower thermosphere mode (MLT, 50-150 km) NO retrieval (Bender et al., 2013), including the same 3-D ray tracing, 2-D retrieval grid, and regularisations with respect to altitude and latitude.Since the nominal mode limb scans extend only to about 91 km, we use NO densities in the lower thermosphere (above 92 km), derived from empirical models, as a priori input. The priors are the Nitric Oxide Empirical Model (NOEM; Marsh et al., 2004) and a regression model derived from the MLT NO data comparison (Bender et al., 2015). Our algorithm yields plausible NO number densities from 60 to 85 km from the SCIAMACHY nominal limb mode scans. Using a priori input substantially reduces the incorrect attribution of NO from the lower thermosphere, where no direct limb measurements are available. The vertical resolution lies between 5 and 10 km in the altitude range 65-80 km.Analysing all SCIAMACHY nominal limb scans provides almost 10 years (from August 2002 to April 2012) of daily NO measurements in this altitude range. This provides a unique data record of NO in the upper atmosphere and is invaluable for constraining NO in the mesosphere, in particular for testing and validating chemistry climate models during this period.

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Global observations of nitric oxide in the thermosphere

Cited by 150 publications

References 18 publications

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

Electron impact contribution to infrared NO emissions in auroral conditions

Retrieval of nitric oxide in the mesosphere from SCIAMACHY nominal limb spectra

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