Photolysis of O3 at Hartley, Chappuis, Huggins, and Wulf bands in the middle atmosphere: Vibrational kinetics of oxygen molecules O2(X3Σ g − , ν ≤ 35)

Abstract

The advanced version of the full model of O2 and O3 photodissociation in the mesosphere and thermosphere (Yankovsky V.A., Manuilova R.O., Atmospheric and Oceanic optics, 2003, V. 16, No. 7, P. 582) was used for the calculation of vertical profiles of vibrationally excited O2(X, ν) molecular concentrations in the ground electronic state for ν = 1–35. Recent data on the rate constants for reactions O2(X, ν ≤ 30) + O(3P) → O2(X, ν′ < ν) + O(3P) and O2(X, ν) were included for the first time in this model. These reactions play a significant role not only in the quenching of O2(X, ν) molecules, but also in the population of underlying vibrational levels of O2 molecules. In addition to direct processes of the production of O2(X, ν ≤ 35), resulting from O3 photolysis, the processes of population of O2(X, ν ≤ 9) molecules through the energy transfer from O(1D), O2(b, ν ≤ 2), and O2(a, ν ≤ 5) were used in the model. The resulting quantum output (RQO) for O2(X, ν = 1) molecules in process of ozone photolysis in spectral bands of not only Hartley, but also Chappuis, Huggins, and Wulf were calculated in the interval of 200–900 nm. The accounting for new processes caused an increase of RQO by 5–9% in the mesosphere. Vertical profiles of RQO and the populations of O2(X, ν ≤ 35) at heights of 50–120 km, depending on SZA, in a range from 36.0 to 90.1° for a series of TIMED/SABER experiments in the latitude interval from 30.2 to 47.7° N are presented during the period of vernal equinox.