Radiative constraints on the minimum atomic oxygen concentration in the mesopause region

Atomic oxygen [O] plays a fundamental role in the photochemistry and energy budget of the terrestrial mesopause region (80–100 km). [O] is difficult to measure directly and is typically inferred at night from measurements of hydroxyl [OH] or molecular oxygen [O2] emissions. During the day, measureme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2013-07, Vol.40 (14), p.3777-3780
Main Authors: Mlynczak, Martin G., Hunt, Linda A., Marshall, B. Thomas, Mertens, Christopher J., Russell III, James M., Siskind, David, Thompson, R. Earl, Gordley, Larry L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic oxygen
Budgets
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Emission measurements
Emissions control
energetics
Energy balance
Energy budgets
Energy use
Exact sciences and technology
Geophysics
Mesopause
mesopause region
Night
Oxygen
Photochemistry
radiative constraints
Uncertainty
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Summary:Atomic oxygen [O] plays a fundamental role in the photochemistry and energy budget of the terrestrial mesopause region (80–100 km). [O] is difficult to measure directly and is typically inferred at night from measurements of hydroxyl [OH] or molecular oxygen [O2] emissions. During the day, measurements of ozone [O3] concentration are used to infer [O]. These inferences carry significant uncertainties [Mlynczak et al., 2013a]. Recently, Mlynczak et al. [2013b] have used energy balance principles to set an upper limit on the annual global mean [O] concentration in the mesopause region. In this paper, we use night measurements of OH emission to set a lower limit on the global annual mean atomic oxygen concentration. These independent, radiatively constrained values of the maximum and minimum atomic oxygen concentration also place constraints on the magnitude of dynamical processes in the annual global mean energy budget of the mesopause region. Key Points Minimum value of atomic oxygen is derived, based on radiative constraints Max and Min [O] now known from radiation/energetics,independent of chemistry Minimum O allows energy budget to be improved, including dynamical terms
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/grl.50725