New Optical Emissions in the Terrestrial Nightglow: The O2(c-b) Bands

Details New Optical Emissions in the Terrestrial Nightglow: The O2(c-b) Bands New Optical Emissions in the Terrestrial Nightglow: The O2(c-b) Bands

May 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsa22a..11s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SA22A-11

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

0310 Airglow And Aurora, 0317 Chemical Kinetic And Photochemical Properties

Scientific paper

Sky spectra from the Keck I and II telescopes in the 380-450 nm region have revealed the presence of a new O2 band system, the transition between the c1Σu- b1Σg+ states. There is only a Q-branch associated with the transition and the unusual symmetry favors emission from high rotational le vels. Radiation from c(v = 9,10) is particularly pronounced, but O2(c) population is seen over the range v = 5-11. The sparse individual lines of the 9-1 c-b band are as bright as any Herzberg I or Chamberlain band line at wavelengths longer than 365 nm. We have not yet seen lines in the c-X Herzberg II system in the present data set at wavelengths greater than 337 nm. The probable explanation for the c-b transition being evident while the c-X transition is not is that the c-b emission is concentrated in 1/4 as many lines, and the strongest c-X bands are at shorter wavelengths, inaccessible from the ground. We presently estimate an emission intensity of 30 R for the c-b system. As the term energies for both states are accurately known, the lines can be used for precise calibration of aeronomical and astronomical spectra, as well as for investigations on the c1Σu- state. Loss rate coefficients for the c(v = 8-11) levels are currently being determined in the laboratory for the temperature range relevant to the terrestrial upper atmosphere[1]. [1] G. Amaral, G. B. Bressler, E. S. Hwang, K. Kalogerakis, A. Totth, and R. A. Copeland (in preparation); R. A. Copeland, K. Knutsen, M. E. Onishi, and T. Yalcin, J. Chem. Phys. 105, 10340 (1994). This work was supported by a grant from the NSF CEDAR program.

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