Abstract
The Middle Atmosphere High‐Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) measured vertical density profiles of hydroxyl (OH) by observing A2Σ+−X2Π (0,0) solar resonance fluorescence in the mesosphere near 309 nm [Conway et al., this issue]. Interpretation of the MAHRSI results requires calculation of the OH(0,0) rotational emission rate factors (g factors) which describe the molecule's fluorescent scattering efficiency. This calculation relies heavily on a solar irradiance measurement with high enough spectral resolution to identify the amount of excitation for each rotational transition (resolving power >3.1×105). Recent high‐resolution ground‐based measurements of the solar irradiance and more accurate absolute solar irradiance observations allow for much more accurate g factors. We find that the relative intensities of calculated OH (0,0;) rotational g factors are in excellent agreement with MAHRSI spectra. The calculated OH (0,0) band g factor is found to be 3.51×10−4 s−1 at 200 K, in good agreement with the most recent work on the subject.
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