Nitric oxide in the lower thermosphere

Abstract

Satellite measurements of nitric oxide in the lower thermosphere (100–120 km) show the density to be highly variable. The variation at low latitudes is correlated with solar activity and the variation at polar latitudes is connected with geomagnetic activity. A study of a one-dimensional, photochemical model shows that calculations of nitric oxide density in the lower thermosphere are sensitive to uncertainties in the branching ratios for the production of excited and ground state nitrogen by two reactions: the dissociative recombination of ionized nitric oxide and the electron impact dissociation of molecular nitrogen. To a lesser extent, the calculations are also sensitive to uncertainties in the following four reactions: the reaction of excited nitrogen atoms with molecular oxygen, the photodissociation of nitric oxide, the ion-molecule reaction between ionized molecular nitrogen and atomic oxygen, and the deactivation of excited atomic nitrogen by atomic oxygen. The large variability in polar nitric oxide is produced by the variation in the auroral electron flux. A calculation using the model demonstrates that the relationship between the electron flux and the nitric oxide density is non-linear. The Joule heating associated with auroral activity also produces variations in the nitric oxide density. The variability in low latitude nitric oxide is produced by variations in the solar soft x-ray flux. A model calculation shows the relationship between the x-ray flux and the nitric oxide density to be nearly linear.