An Antarctic no density profile deduced from the gamma band airglow

The nitric oxide density profile between the altitudes 72 and 120 km was obtained by means of the airglow γ(1, 0) band measured with a rocket-borne radiometer flown at Syowa Station (69°S, 40°E). The NO density was found to have two peaks with a value of 1.5× 10⁸cm^?3 at 90 and 110 km, and is much larger than those in the middle and low latitudes. Because of a long lifetime of NO in the mesosphere, the observed NO enhancement may be due to the after-effect of the particle precipitation event which occurred within the half day before, despite no polar disturbance during the rocket flight.