Bibliography

Sounding Rocket Observation of Nitric Oxide in the Polar Night

An altitude profile of Nitric Oxide (NO) in the 80–110 km altitude range was measured in the polar night from a sounding rocket on 27 January 2020. The observations were made using the technique of stellar occultation with a UV spectrograph observing the γ (1,0) band of NO near 215 nm. The tangent point for the altitude profile was at 74° latitude, a location that had been in darkness for 80 days. The retrieved slant column density profile is interpreted using an assumed four-parameter analytic profile shape. Retrievals of the fitting parameters yield a profile with a peak NO concentration of 2.2 ± 0.7 × 108 cm−3 at 93.5 ± 4.1 km. The observations were made during a time of minimum solar and geomagnetic activity. The NO maximum retrieved from the rocket profile is significantly larger in abundance and lower in altitude than other observations on the same day at nearby latitudes just outside the polar night. These rocket-borne results are consistent with NO that is created over the course over the polar winter and is confined to high latitudes in the polar night by the mesospheric polar vortex. During the course of that confinement the abundance increases due to the lack of photodissociation, allowing the NO to descend. We show that the observed descent can be explained by eddy diffusion-driven transport, though vertical advection cannot be ruled out.

Bailey, Scott; McClintock, William; Carstens, Justin; Thurairajah, Brentha; Das, Saswati; Randall, Cora; Harvey, Lynn; Siskind, David; Stevens, Michael; Venkataramani, Karthik;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2022     DOI: 10.1029/2021JA030257

Lower thermosphere; mesosphere; nitric oxide; polar night; sounding rocket; stellar occultation

Space shuttle exhaust plumes in the lower thermosphere: Advective transport and diffusive spreading

The space shuttle main engine plume deposited between 100 and 115\ km altitude is a valuable tracer for global-scale dynamical processes. Several studies have shown that this plume can reach the Arctic or Antarctic to form bursts of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) within a few days. The rapid transport of the shuttle plume is currently not reproduced by general circulation models and is not well understood. To help delineate the issues, we present the complete satellite datasets of shuttle plume observations by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry instrument and the Sub-Millimeter Radiometer instrument. From 2002 to 2011 these two instruments observed 27 shuttle plumes in over 600 limb scans of water vapor emission, from which we derive both advective meridional transport and diffusive spreading. Each plume is deposited at virtually the same place off the United States east coast so our results are relevant to northern mid-latitudes. We find that the advective transport for the first 6\textendash18\ h following deposition depends on the local time (LT) of launch: shuttle plumes deposited later in the day (~13\textendash22 LT) typically move south whereas they otherwise typically move north. For these younger plumes rapid transport is most favorable for launches at 6 and 18 LT, when the displacement is 10\textdegree in latitude corresponding to an average wind speed of 30\ m/s. For plumes between 18 and 30\ h old some show average sustained meridional speeds of 30\ m/s. For plumes between 30 and 54\ h old the observations suggest a seasonal dependence to the meridional transport, peaking near the beginning of year at 24\ m/s. The diffusive spreading of the plume superimposed on the transport is on average 23\ m/s in 24\ h. The plume observations show large variations in both meridional transport and diffusive spreading so that accurate modeling requires knowledge of the winds specific to each case. The combination of transport and spreading from the STS-118 plume in August 2007 formed bright PMCs between 75 and 85\textdegreeN a day after launch. These are the highest latitude Arctic PMCs formed by shuttle exhaust reported to date.

Stevens, Michael; Lossow, Stefan; Siskind, David; Meier, R.R.; Randall, Cora; Russell, James; Urban, Jo; Murtagh, Donal;

Published by: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics      Published on: 02/2014

YEAR: 2014     DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2013.12.004

Atmospheric dynamics; Lower thermosphere; Polar mesospheric clouds; Space shuttle exhaust

Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals on STPSat-1

Englert, Christoph; Stevens, Michael; Siskind, David; Harlander, John; Roesler, Frederick;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research      Published on: Jan-01-2010

YEAR: 2010     DOI: 10.1029/2010JD014398