Model of vibrational level populations of Herzberg states of oxygen molecules at heights of the lower thermosphere and mesosphere

The paper presents a model of the kinetics of electronically excited O₂(c¹Σ_u⁻,v), O₂(A′³Δ_u,v), O₂(A³Σ_u⁺,v) molecules at heights of the lower thermosphere and mesosphere with allowance for electronic excitation transfer processes during molecular collisions. The model is used to calculate the relative O₂(A³Σ_u⁺,v) and O₂(A′³Δ_u,v) populations at heights of 80–110 km. The calculated populations are compared with the available literature results on experimental estimates, and good agreement is obtained. It is shown how the increase in the quenching rates of the considered states by oxygen atoms affects the calculation results.