Martian dayglow as seen by the SPICAM UV spectrograph on Mars Express

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

27

Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Airglow And Aurora, Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Mars, Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060), Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets: Magnetic Fields And Magnetism, Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote Sensing

Scientific paper

In this paper we describe measurements of the Martian dayglow obtained by SPICAM UV spectrograph on board Mars Express between October 2004 and March 2005. Typical spectra (of more than 24,000 individual spectra) display the main features of the dayglow already reported more than 30 years ago (Barth et al., 1971, 1972). The variations with altitude, solar zenith angle, and aerocentric longitude of the main emissions, namely, the CO Cameron band emissions (a3Π - X1Σ+) from 180-260 nm, the CO2+ ultraviolet doublet (B2Σ+ - X2Π) emission near 289 nm, the O resonance line at 130.4 nm, and the H Lyman alpha line at 121.6 nm, are detailed. The average temperature deduced from the CO2+ (B2Σ+ - X2Π) emission scale height between 150 and 190 km is T∞ = 201 +/- 10 K. The altitude of the peak of the dayglow emission varies from 120 km at low solar zenith angle (~30°) up to 132 km at high solar zenith angle (~75°). We also find 24 orbits in which the individual derived exospheric temperatures do not show significant variations with respect to solar zenith angle, aerocentric longitude, or longitude. The presence of crustal magnetic fields appears to correlate with a significant (~100 K) increase in exospheric temperature. We report also the first observations of emissions associated with the N2 Vegard Kaplan band system in the Martian upper atmosphere.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Martian dayglow as seen by the SPICAM UV spectrograph on Mars Express does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Martian dayglow as seen by the SPICAM UV spectrograph on Mars Express, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Martian dayglow as seen by the SPICAM UV spectrograph on Mars Express will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1626472

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.