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

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