The OI/1S/ state - Its quenching by O2 and formation by the dissociative recombination of vibrationally excited O2/+/ ions

The rate coefficient for the quenching of metastable O(1S) atoms by O2 was measured as a function of temperature from 250 to 550 K. The resulting Arrhenius expression correlates well with previous laboratory work. It is suggested that the much larger value of the rate coefficient inferred from an analysis of artificial auroral experiment, Precede, may be explained by overestimation of the contribution of O(1S) production from O2(+) dissociative recombination. The possibility that O(1S) atoms are produced only by the dissociative recombination of vibrationally excited O2(+) ions is examined; such excited ions would not exist in the Precede experiment because of the rapid cooling of the ions by resonant charge transfer processes.