Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Geophysical Research
Issue
22
Publication Date
1-1-1977
First Page
3281
Last Page
3286
Abstract
A simple rocket-borne system has been developed for deriving nitric oxide concentration in the mesosphere from measurements of resonantly scattered solar ultraviolet radiation in the NOg ammbaa nd near 2150 •. The NO signal is extracted from a background of Rayleigh-scattered light by a direct measurement of this scattered light by use of an NO absorption cell. This system was utilized to measure the NO concentration above White Sands, New Mexico, in the altitude range from 69 to 101 km. The derived NO profile shows a concentration of about 3 x 10 7 cm-3 at 67 and 100 km with a deep valley (more than an order of magnitude less) at about 84 km. Comparison with model calculations indicates that the time constant for NO chemistry is smaller than or comparable with that for transport
Recommended Citation
Baker, K. D.; Nagy, A. F.; Olsen, R. O.; Oran, E. S.; Randhawa, J.; Strobel, D. F.; and Tohmatsu, T., "Measurement of the Nitric Oxide Altitude Distribution in the Mid-Latitude Mesosphere" (1977). Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications. Paper 7.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/sdl_pubs/7