Global Distribution of Atomic Oxygen in the Mesopause Region as Derived from SCIAMACHY O(1S) Green Line Measurements

Abstract:

A new dataset of atomic oxygen abundance in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere is presented. The data is derived from the nighttime atomic oxygen green line limb emission measurements of the SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY) instrument on the European Environmental Satellite (Envisat). The temporal coverage is October 2002 until April 2012 and the latitudinal extent is 50S to 80N at 10pm local time. This dataset is compared to other satellite datasets, in particular to recently published data of SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) and the Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scatter (MSIS) model. SCIAMACHY atomic oxygen peak abundances are typically 3-6 1e11 mol/cm3 at the atomic oxygen maximum region, depending on latitude and season. These values are similar to previous values based on chemiluminescence measurements of the atomic oxygen three body recombination reaction, but at least 30% lower than atomic oxygen abundances obtained from SABER.