Discovery of the FeO orange bands in the terrestrial night airglow spectrum obtained with OSIRIS on the Odin spacecraft

Evans, W. F. J.; Gattinger, R. L.; Slanger, T. G.; Saran, D. V.; Degenstein, D. A.; Llewellyn, E. J.

doi:10.1029/2010gl045310

Cited by 24 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Very recently, Evans et al (2010) reported on the discovery of the orange bands of excited FeO in the low latitude nightglow spectrum. The excited FeO is the result of the reaction between Fe and O 3 and the wavelength region covered by the FeO emission is from ∼520 nm to longer than 700 nm, i.e.…”

Section: No From the Photometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, because of the chemistry involved in the production of the two species, the altitudes of emission are separated with the NO 2 continuum emission peaking some 5-10 km higher than the FeO. Evans et al (2010) restricted the observations to latitudes equatorward of 40 • where the NO 2 continuum emission is believed to be only a minor contributor and the FeO emission to be the major contributor to the nightglow continuum. At auroral latitudes it is more likely the opposite situation, with the NO 2 continuum emission as the major contributor.…”

Section: No From the Photometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observations of NO in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere during ECOMA 2010

et al. 2012

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Abstract. In December 2010 the last campaign of the German-Norwegian sounding rocket project ECOMA (Existence and Charge state Of Meteoric smoke particles in the middle Atmosphere) was conducted from Andøya Rocket Range in northern Norway (69 • N, 16 • E) in connection with the Geminid meteor shower. The main instrument on board the rocket payloads was the ECOMA detector for studying meteoric smoke particles (MSPs) by active photoionization and subsequent detection of the produced charges (particles and photoelectrons). In addition to photoionizing MSPs, the energy of the emitted photons from the ECOMA flash-lamp is high enough to also photoionize nitric oxide (NO). Thus, around the peak of the NO layer, at and above the main MSP layer, photoelectrons produced by the photoionization of NO are expected to contribute to, or even dominate above the main MSP-layer, the total measured photoelectron current. Among the other instruments on board was a set of two photometers to study the O 2 (b 1 + g − X 3 − g ) Atmospheric band and NO 2 continuum nightglow emissions. In the absence of auroral emissions, these two nightglow features can be used together to infer NO number densities. This will provide a way to quantify the contribution of NO photoelectrons to the photoelectron current measured by the ECOMA instrument and, above the MSP layer, a simultaneous measurement of NO with two different and independent techniques. This work is still on-going due to the uncertainties, especially in the effort to quantitatively infer NO densities from the ECOMA photoelectron current, and the lack of simultaneous measurements of temperature and density for the photometric study. In this paper we describe these two techniques to infer NO densities and discuss the uncertainties. The peak NO number density inferred from the two photometers on ascent was 3.9 × 10 8 cm −3 at an altitude of about 99 km, while the concentration inferred from the ECOMA photoelectron measurement at this altitude was a factor of 5 smaller.

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Section: No From the Photometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: No From the Photometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of NO in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere during ECOMA 2010

et al. 2012

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“…Following the observations of Evans et al (2010), the residual GLO-1 spectrum in Fig. 2, Panel C, is expected to include a component arising from mesospheric chemiluminescent FeO * emissions.…”

Section: Night Airglow Continuum Observations With the Glo-1 Spectrogmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2, Panel C, is expected to include a component arising from mesospheric chemiluminescent FeO * emissions. Evans et al (2010) built their analysis on the observation of FeO * in persistent meteor trains by Jenniskens et al (2000). The FeO * component must be removed from the total residual continuum to isolate any previously unidentified features.…”

Section: Night Airglow Continuum Observations With the Glo-1 Spectrogmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other spectra from this instrument have been used to study meteoric metals in the thermosphere (Gardener et al, 1999). Following the procedures described by Evans et al (2010), known airglow emission features were matched to the observed spectrum. These features included the Herzberg O 2 band systems, the Meinel OH bands, the O 2 Atmospheric bands and a number of atomic emission lines.…”

Section: Night Airglow Continuum Observations With the Glo-1 Spectrogmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The observation of chemiluminescent NiO* emissions in the laboratory and in the night airglow

et al. 2011

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Abstract. The recent finding of an orange spectral feature in OSIRIS/Odin spectra of the night airglow near 87 km has raised interest in the origin of the emission. The feature was positively identified as the chemiluminescent FeO * emission where the iron is of meteoric origin. Since the meteorite source of atomic metals in the mesosphere contains both iron and nickel, with Ni being typically 6 % of Fe, it is expected that faint emissions involving Ni should also be present in the night airglow. The present study summarizes the laboratory observations of chemiluminescent NiO * emissions and includes a search for the NiO * signature in the night airglow. A very faint previously unidentified "continuum" extending longwave of 440 nm has been detected in the night airglow spectra obtained with two space-borne limb viewing instruments. Through a comparison with laboratory spectra this continuum is identified as arising from the NiO * emission. The altitude profile of the new airglow emission has also been measured. The similarity of the altitude profiles of the FeO * and NiO * emissions also suggests the emission is NiO as both can originate from reaction of the metal atoms with mesospheric ozone. The observed NiO * to FeO * ratio exhibits considerable variability; possible causes of this observed variation are briefly discussed.

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Gravity wave coupling between the mesosphere and thermosphere over New Zealand

et al. 2013

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[1] All-sky images obtained with the Boston University all-sky imaging system located at the Mount John University Observatory, New Zealand (43.98 S, 170.42 E) show clear evidence of dynamic coupling between the mesosphere and thermosphere. Gravity wave (GW) breaking events in the upper mesosphere at altitudes (z) of 80 to 100 km were observed in the 557.7 nm emission on the evening of 4 March 2009 from 08:40 to 13:50 UT. During this time, unusual oppositely propagating weak northwestward (NW-ward) and strong southeastward (SE-ward) GWs were observed in the all-sky images of the thermospheric atomic oxygen O( 1 D) 630.0 nm emission at 250 km altitude. The waves appeared to originate from the same location over New Zealand, with phase fronts nearly parallel to the landmass axis of the South Island of New Zealand. Additionally, the southern portion of the wave train ends abruptly at the southern tip of New Zealand. The SE-ward GWs were stronger and appeared for~5 h, while the NW-ward GWs were weaker and only appeared for~1.75 h. We provide evidence that mountain waves were likely generated in the troposphere that evening. Momentum deposition from GW breaking excites secondary GWs. We model these secondary GWs and show that these GWs have a similar morphology and behavior as observed. Wind filtering in the thermosphere can account for the larger amplitudes and persistent appearance of the SE-ward GWs and the smaller amplitudes and less persistent appearance of the NW-ward GWs. Thus, the morphology and behavior of the 630.0 nm GWs suggest that they were secondary GWs generated from mountain wave breaking in the upper mesosphere. We also show that similar SE-ward GWs have occurred in the 630.0 nm emission on other occasions.

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Discovery of the FeO orange bands in the terrestrial night airglow spectrum obtained with OSIRIS on the Odin spacecraft

Cited by 24 publications

References 34 publications

Observations of NO in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere during ECOMA 2010

Observations of NO in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere during ECOMA 2010

The observation of chemiluminescent NiO* emissions in the laboratory and in the night airglow

Gravity wave coupling between the mesosphere and thermosphere over New Zealand

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