A Study of Mid-Latitude 5577A CI Dayglow Emissions
Abstract
Summary of thesis: The green line (5577angstroms) is a bright, persistent component of the visible airglow. It is produced by an electric quadruple transition from the metastable second excited state (1So) to the first excited state (1D2) of atomic oxygen. These two excited states all lie in the same electron shell of the atom and have the same electron configuration as the ground state of 1s22s22p4, which is the 3P2,1,0. This emission is present in both the daytime and night airglow and in the aurora, and despite a long history of study it is still not fully understood. The emission in the dayglow and the nightglow is relatively homogeneous spatially and global in coverage. In the aurora, the emission is much brighter than the airglow, high structured and very localized being restricted to higher latitudes. The structure of the 5577angstroms emission with altitude and the chemistry responsible for the production of the emission are complex. The vertical structure for the emission has two distinct layers in the airglow each with its own set of production and loss mechanisms. the chemistry for either of these layers is not completely known. The auroral emission is not understood either since it overlaps the upper and lower layer altitudes and it tends to contain some parts of the chemistry of both layers as sources and losses.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA255444
Entities
People
- Edward E. Hume Jr.
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology