Generation of emissions in red and green lines of atomic oxygen with due regard to energetic electron precipitation in the night time mid-latitude ionosphere

Abstract

A numerical model of the ionosphere has been used to study the dependence of night airglows in red and green lines of atomic oxygen on characteristics of precipitating electrons which can substantially affect conditions in the mid-latitude ionosphere during magnetic storms. It has been established that the precipitations are able to indirectly generate airglow in red and green lines of atomic oxygen by increasing rates of ion formation and heating of thermal electrons, which causes an increase in the rate of dissociative recombination and thermal-electron-collision excitation of the 1 D and 1 S levels.