Yield of O( 1D) by dissociative recombination of O 2+ from night airglow observations

Abstract

Ground-based photometer observations of the OI(6300 Å) night airglow compared with theoretical calculations of the integrated 6300 Å vertical volume emission rate indicate a yield of 0.15 ± 0.07 O( 1 D) atoms per recombination of O 2 + at 1000 K, including the 1S → 1D cascade effect. Implications of this result on the possible contribution of the dissociative recombination of NO + to the OI(6300 Å) night airglow are also discussed.