Temperature gradients at mesopause heights inferred from OH nightglow data

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA11p19061· OSTI ID:5049253

Schubert, G; Walterscheid, R L; Hecht, J H ^[1]; Sivjee, G G ^[2]

---

1. Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles, CA (United States)
2. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach, FL (United States)

A theoretical method is proposed to obtain thermal structural information about the mesopause using multiple rotational lines from ground-based observations of a single vibration-rotation nightglow Meinel band of the electronic ground state of OH. The method determines the mean temperature of the emission region, the temperature difference across the region, and the magnitude of the temperature gradient for physically realistic assumptions about emission region thickness. It is applied to the OH(6, 2) Meinel band spectra of the nightglow obtained during periods of low geomagnetic activity during January 1986 at Longyearbyen, Spitzbergen. The results of the analyses indicate that during the periods of observation the emission region of the nightglow OH Meinel bands is significantly nonisothermal, with temperature gradient magnitudes of about 10 K km{sup {minus}1} (for an emission region thickness of 8 km). Such large temperature gradients are consistent with other independent measurements of a highly structured mesopause reported in the literature. Large-amplitude gravity waves propagating through the mesopause are probably responsible for the large temperature gradients.

• OSTI ID: 5049253
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 95:A11; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640200* -- Atmospheric Physics
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AIRGLOW
CALCULATION METHODS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIMENSIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EVALUATION
GRAVITY WAVES
GROUND LEVEL
HEIGHT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
LEVELS
MESOSPHERE
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
THICKNESS
WAVE PROPAGATION