Spectroscopic observations of the night airglow from 3000 Å to 9200 Å.

Abstract

Spectroscopic measurements of the night airglow were taken at mid latitude over a period of four months. The use of intensified CCD spectrographs allowed simultaneous data to be taken from 3000Å to 9200Å in 3300 contiguous spectral elements with a resolution (full width at half max.) of 6Å to 15Å. The average intensities for a 6.5 hour integration period on March 16, 1991 of the O₂ Herzberg I, Chamberlain, Herzberg II, and Atmospheric (0-1) emissions were 230 ± 20 R, 80 ± 10 R, 80 ± 40 R, and 350 ± 20 R respectively. For the OH Meinel (9-4), (8-3), (7-2), (7-3), (6-2), (5-1), (4-0) emissions the intensities were 450 ± 50 R, 450 ± 20 R, 90 ± 20 R, 1620 ± 200 R, 970 ± 50 R, 680 ± 15 R, and 190 ± 20 R respectively. The OI 5577Å and 6300Å emissions were 320 ± 10 R and 160 ± 10 R respectively. These simultaneous emission intensities were compared with an atmospheric model which revealed that the O₂(A³Σ, A'³Δ, c¹Σ, b¹Σ) states and the OH(X²Π) state were heavily quenched. Analysis of the vibrational distributions of the O₂(A³Σ, A'³Δ, c¹Σ) states and the OH(X²Π) state, and dynamic intensity fluctuations of their related emission features provided independent confirmation of the conclusion that the O₂(A³ Σ, A'³Δ, c¹Σ) states and the OH(X²Π) state were heavily quenched.