Thermospheric no profiles observed at the diminishing phase of solar cycle 21 |
| |
Institution: | Geophysics Research Laboratory, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | Two density profiles of the thermospheric nitric oxide were obtained by means of the γ(1,0) band airglow measured with rocket-home radiometers flown from Uchinoura, Japan (31°N) at around autumnal equinoxes in 1982 and 1983. The peak densities were found at altitudes of 105–110 km and are 9 × 107 and 7 × 107 cm−3, respectively. They are well reproduced by the variation of solar activity in terms of a one-dimensional photochemical-diffusive model, but the densities above 140 km under moderate solar activity differ considerably from the model prediction. A similar discrepancy has already been found in the NO density profile obtained by our previous experiment at solar maximum. These discrepancies infer a possibility either that our understanding of thermospheric nitrogen chemisty includes a serious error, or that the meridional circulation affects considerably the NO density profile even at altitudes above 140 km and at low latitudes. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|