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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere—constituent transport and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Thermosphere—composition and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Transmission and scattering of radiation

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, 1378, 4 PP., 2002
doi:10.1029/2002GL015079

OH observations of space shuttle exhaust

Michael H. Stevens

E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

Christoph R. Englert

E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

Jörg Gumbel

Universities Space Research Association, Washington, DC, USA

We report the unexpected observation of a large hydroxyl (OH) cloud north and east of the United States a day after a space shuttle launch in November, 1994. The Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) observed OH(0,0) solar fluorescence near 309 nm while staring toward a tangent altitude of 87 km, where OH can be produced from water vapor photodissociation. The OH(0,0) band has a rotational temperature of 252 ± 23 K corresponding to an altitude of 110 ± 3 km, where nearly half of the shuttle's main engine water vapor exhaust is released on ascent. The location of the cloud one day after injection into the atmosphere implies that its average velocity is between 26–40 m/s northward. We also report strong evidence of water ice measured simultaneously along the same line of sight, suggesting that water vapor exhaust is redistributed by condensation and sedimentation.

Published 21 May 2002.

Citation: Stevens, M. H., C. R. Englert, and J. Gumbel (2002), OH observations of space shuttle exhaust, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(10), 1378, doi:10.1029/2002GL015079.

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