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The natural thermostat of nitric oxide emission at 5.3 μm in the thermosphere observed during the solar storms of April 2002
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
Analytical Services and Materials Inc., Hampton, Virginia, USA
Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA
G and A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA
G and A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, USA
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
G and A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, USA
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, USA
ARCON Corporation, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment on the Thermosphere-Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite observed the infrared radiative response of the thermosphere to the solar storm events of April 2002. Large radiance enhancements were observed at 5.3 μm, which are due to emission from the vibration-rotation bands of nitric oxide (NO). The emission by NO is indicative of the conversion of solar energy to infrared radiation within the atmosphere and represents a “natural thermostat” by which heat and energy are efficiently lost from the thermosphere to space and to the lower atmosphere. We describe the SABER observations at 5.3 μm and their interpretation in terms of energy loss. The infrared enhancements remain only for a few days, indicating that such perturbations to the thermospheric state, while dramatic, are short-lived.
Received 6 May 2003; accepted 3 October 2003; published 7 November 2003.
Citation: (2003), The natural thermostat of nitric oxide emission at 5.3 μm in the thermosphere observed during the solar storms of April 2002, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(21), 2100, doi:10.1029/2003GL017693.
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