Rapid space/time variations in mesospheric ozone

A 5 meter telescope was used to observe variations in the narrow emission line which is present in the nightime emission spectrum of ozone. The line was measured for several nights on two different transitions of the ozone molecule at 110.8 GHz and 142.2 GHz. Individual spectra with a time resolution of 5 minutes were taken. The narrow emission line showed considerable variation in intensity indicating that the ozone layer from which its arises has a rather detailed structure. Analysis of the line profile shows that the emission is coming from an ozone layer in the 55-75 km region of the mesosphere. This layer has a column density of 2 x 10 to the 16th power molecules/sq cm in a vertical path through the region.