Emission of forbidden red and green lines of atomic oxygen from the nocturnal F region

Abstract

The O + 2 dissociative recombination quantum yields, f( 1S) and f( 1D), that have been deduced from nocturnal rocket measurements on the volume emission rates V(5577) and V(6300) in the equatorial F region have been analysed to see if they are consistent with the results of ab initio computations on dissociative recombination. In the case of the 557.7 nm emission the only serious problem is that the rocket f( 1S) values are much larger than expected in the region below about 220 km. The most interesting feature of the apparent f( 1D) altitude profile is that it is markedly influenced by the transport of the suprathermal O( 1D) atoms produced by the dissociative recombination.