Ultraviolet stellar occultation measurement of the H 2 and O 2 densities near 100 km in the Earth's atmosphere

Autor: B. Wasser, J. F. Drake, Sushil K. Atreya, W. E. Sharp, Thomas M. Donahue, G. R. Riegler
Rok vydání: 1976
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical Research Letters. 3:607-610
ISSN: 0094-8276
DOI: 10.1029/gl003i010p00607
Popis: Results are presented for an experimental study designed to measure the density of H2 near 100 km in the earth's atmosphere from occultation of a star, Gamma Vel, by the earth's atmosphere at several wavelengths near the H2 absorption line at 1108.128 A by a spectrometer on an orbiting astronomical observatory. Measurement of the O2 density between 95 and 123 km is also reported. Attention is focused on testing the predictions of a model of the distribution of hydrogen constituents, H, H2, H2O, CH4, OH, and H2O in the upper atmosphere related to a theory of hydrogen escape developed by Hunten and Strobel (1974) and by Liu and Donahue (1974). The measured H2 densities are found to be in good agreement with recent theoretical predictions, whereas the measured O2 density profile generally agrees with the models except for a wavelike structure in the range 104-114 km.
Databáze: OpenAIRE