Measurement of atomic oxygen and related airglows in the lower thermosphere

Instruments on board a sounding rocket were used to make simultaneous observations of atomic oxygen density and airglow emissions between 80 and 120 km. Atomic oxygen was measured with a resonance lamp and was found to have a peak density of 6 x 10 to the 11th at 94 km. Similar structure is seen in the oxygen density profile on both uplegs and downlegs. The following airglow emissions were measured by using vertical-viewing photometers: Herzberg I bands near 300 nm; O(1S) green line at 557.7 nm; background at 566 nm; O2(1 Delta g) bands at 1.27 microns; and OH (X 2 pi) Meinel bands near 1.7 microns.