Review of the Photochemistry of Selected Nightglow Emissions from the Mesopause.

摘要

The substantial research activity or recent years on the photochemistry of the hydrogen-oxygen family has improved our understanding of the production of nightglow emissions in the mesopause region of the atmosphere between 80 and 100 km; this work is reviewed with specific attention paid to the emissions of OH, the 557.7-nm emission of O, and the atmosphere bands. These emissions are closely related to the O atom concentration profile and would provide a wealth of useful photochemical data in studies of noctilucent cloud displays. Ground-based and rocket measurements of the OH nightglow show that the kinetics are well represented by the combination of the production reaction, H + O3 (mu) OH + O2, with significant collisional deactivation by N2 and O2 for the higher vibrational levels of OH. In contrast, the perhydroxyl radical, HO2, plays a negligible role in the vibrational excitation of OH and the production of OH optical emission in the mesopause region. Atomic oxygen quenching is important for the lower vibrational states of OH (mu). Improved experimental determination of the electric dipole moment function of OH has resulted in a new set of transition probabilities that agrees well with the theoretical set published by Mies for low v rovibrational transition of OH. Reprints. (js)