Concurrent observations of the ultraviolet nitric oxide and infrared O[SUB]2[/SUB] nightglow emissions with Venus Express

Gérard, Jean-Claude; Cox, Cédric; Soret, Lauriane; Saglam, Adem; Piccioni, G.; Bertaux, J.-L.; Drossart, P.

doi:10.1029/2009JE003371

Article (Scientific journals)

Concurrent observations of the ultraviolet nitric oxide and infrared O[SUB]2[/SUB] nightglow emissions with Venus Express

Gérard, Jean-Claude; Cox, Cédric; Soret, Lauriane et al.

2009 • In Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, 114

Peer reviewed

Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2268/14577

DOI
10.1029/2009JE003371

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

airglow NO-O2 correl.pdf

Author postprint (1.92 MB)

Download

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (2009) American Geophysical Union.

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to

RIS BibTex APA Chicago Permalink X Linkedin

Details

Keywords :

Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Airglow and aurora; Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Venus; Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets: Composition (1060); Atmospheric Processes: Thermospheric dynamics (0358)

Abstract :

[en] Two prominent features of the Venus nightside airglow are the nitric oxide delta and gamma bands produced by radiative association of O and N atoms in the lower thermosphere and the O[SUB]2[/SUB] infrared emission generated by three-body recombination of oxygen atoms in the upper mesosphere. The O[SUB]2[/SUB] airglow has been observed from the ground, during the Cassini flyby, and with VIRTIS on board Venus Express. It now appears that the global structure of the two emissions shows some similarities, but the statistical location of the region of strongest emission is not coincident. The Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus (SPICAV) ultraviolet spectrograph has collected a large number of spectra of the Venus nitric oxide nightside airglow. Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) images have been obtained at the limb and in the nadir-viewing mode and have provided new information on the horizontal and vertical distribution of the emission. We present the first concurrent observations of the two emissions observed with Venus Express. We show that nadir observations generally indicate a low degree of correlation between the two emissions observed quasi-simultaneously at a common location. A statistical study of limb profiles indicates that the altitude and the brightness of the two airglow layers generally do not covary. We suggest that this lack of correlation is explained by the presence of strong horizontal winds in the mesosphere-thermosphere transition region. They carry the downflowing atoms over large distances in such a way that regions of enhanced NO emission generally do not coincide with zones of bright O[SUB]2[/SUB] airglow.

Disciplines :

Space science, astronomy & astrophysics

Author, co-author :

Gérard, Jean-Claude ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)

Cox, Cédric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)

Soret, Lauriane ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)

Saglam, Adem ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)

Piccioni, G.

Bertaux, J.-L.

Drossart, P.

Language :

English

Title :

Concurrent observations of the ultraviolet nitric oxide and infrared O[SUB]2[/SUB] nightglow emissions with Venus Express

Publication date :

01 September 2009

Journal title :

Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets

ISSN :

2169-9097

eISSN :

2169-9100

Publisher :

Wiley, Hoboken, United States - New Jersey

Volume :

114

Peer reviewed :

Peer reviewed

Additional URL :

http://esoads.eso.org/abs/2009JGRE..11400B44G

Available on ORBi :

since 25 January 2010

Statistics

Number of views

67 (17 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

156 (8 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

Bibliography

Alien, D., D. Crisp, and V. Meadows (1992), Variable oxygen airglow on Venus as a probe of atmospheric dynamics, Nature, 359, 516-519, doi:10.1038/359516a0.
Bailey, J., V. S. Meadows, S. Chamberlain, and D. Crisp (2008), The temperature of the Venus mesosphere from O2 (a1Δg) airglow observations, Icarus, 197, 247-259, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.04.007.
Bertaux, J.-L., et al. (2007a), A warm layer in Venus' cryosphere and high altitude measurements of HF, HCl, H2O and HDO, Nature, 450, 646-649, doi:10.1038/nature05974.
Bertaux, J.-L., et al. (2007b), SPICAV on Venus Express: Three spectrometers to study the global structure and composition of the Venus atmosphere, Planet. Space Sci., 55, 1673-1700, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2007. 01.016.
Bougher, S. W., and W. J. Borucki (1994), Venus O2 visible and IR nightglow: Implications for lower thermosphere dynamics and chemistry, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 3759-3776, doi:10.1029/93JE03431.
Bougher, S. W., J. C. Gérard, A. I. F. Stewart, and C. G. Fesen (1990), The Venus nitric oxide night airglow: Model calculations based on the Venus Thermospheric General Circulation Model, J. Geophys. Res., 95, 6271-6284, doi:10.1029/JA095iA05p06271.
Bougher, S. W., S. Rafkin, and P. Drossart (2006), Dynamics of the Venus upper atmosphere: Outstanding problems and new constraints expected from Venus Express, Planet. Space Sci., 54, 1371-1380, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2006.04.023.
Connes, P., J. F. Noxon, W. A. Traub, and N. P. Carleton (1979), O 2 1Δ emission in the day and night airglow of Venus, Astrophys. J., 233, L29-L32, doi:10.1086/183070.
Cox, C., A. Saglam, J.-C. Gérard, J.-L. Bertaux, F. González-Galindo, F. Leblanc, and A. Reberac (2008), The distribution of the ultraviolet nitric oxide Martian night airglow: Observations from Mars Express and comparisons with a one-dimensional model, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E08012, doi:10.1029/2007JE003037.
Crisp, D., V. S. Meadows, B. Bézard, C. de Bergh, J. P. Maillard, and F. P. Mills (1996), Ground-based near-infrared observations of the Venus nightside: 1.27 mm O2(1Δg) airglow from the upper atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 4577-4594, doi:10.1029/95JE03136.
Drossart, P., et al. (1993), Search for spatial variations of the H 2O abundance in the lower atmosphere of Venus from NIMS-Galileo, Planet. Space Sci., 41, 495-504, doi:10.1016/0032-0633(93)90032-W.
Drossart, P., et al. (2007a), Infrared spectral imaging observations of Venus by VIRTIS reveal a dynamical upper atmosphere, Nature, 450, 641-645, doi:10.1038/nature06140.
Drossart, P., et al. (2007b), Scientific goals for the observation of Venus by VIRTIS on ESA/Venus express mission, Planet. Space Sci., 55, 1653-1672, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2007.01.003. (Pubitemid 47496166)
Feldman, P. D., H. W. Moos, J. T. Clarke, and A. L. Lane (1979), Identification of the UV nightglow from Venus, Nature, 279, 221-222, doi:10.1038/279221a0.
García Muñoz, A., F. P. Mills, G. Piccioni, and P. Drossart (2009), The near-infrared nitric oxide nightglow in the upper atmosphere of Venus, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 106, 985-988, doi:10.1073/pnas. 0808091106.
Gérard, J.-C., A. I. F. Stewart, and S. W. Bougher (1981), The altitude distribution of the Venus ultraviolet airglow and implications on vertical transport, Geophys. Res. Lett., 8, 633-636, doi:10.1029/ GL008i006p00633.
Gérard, J.-C., C. Cox, A. Saglam, J.-L. Bertaux, E. Villard, and C. Nehmé (2008a), Limb observations of the ultraviolet nitric oxide nightglow with SPICAV on board Venus Express, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E00B03, doi:10.1029/2008JE003078.
Gérard, J.-C., A. Saglam, G. Piccioni, P. Drossart, C. Cox, S. Erard, R. Hueso, and A. Sánchez-Lavega (2008b), The distribution of the O2 infrared nightglow observed with VIRTIS on board Venus Express, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L02207, doi:10.1029/2007GL032021.
Gérard, J.-C., A. Saglam, G. Piccioni, P. Drossart, F. Montmessin, and J.-L. Bertaux (2009), Atomic oxygen distribution in the Venus mesosphere from observations of O2 infrared airglow by VIRTIS-Venus Express, Icarus, 199, 264-272, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.09.016.
Hueso, R., A. Sánchez-Lavega, G. Piccioni, P. Drossart, J.-C. Gérard, I. Khatuntsev, and L. Zasova (2008), Morphology and dynamics of Venus oxygen airglow, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E00B02, doi:10.1029/2008JE003081.
Krasnopolsky, V. A. (1986), Oxygen emissions in the night airglow of the Earth, Venus, and Mars, Planet. Space Sci., 34, 511-518, doi:10.1016/0032- 0633(86)90089-9.
Lellouch, E., T. Clancy, D. Crisp, A. Kliore, D. Titov, and S. W. Bougher (1997), Monitoring of mesospheric structure and dynamics, in Venus II: Geology, Geophysics, Atmosphere, and Solar Wind Environment, edited by S. W. Bougher et al., pp. 295-324, Univ. of Ariz. Press, Tucson.
Lellouch, E., G. Paubert, R. Morenoaand, and A. Moullet (2008), Monitoring Venus' mesospheric winds in support of Venus Express: IRAM 30-m and APEX observations, Planet. Space Sci., 56, 1355-1367, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2008.06. 010.
Miller, H. C., J. E. McCord, J. Choy, and G. D. Hager (2001), Measurement of the radiative lifetime of O2 (a1Δg) using cavity ring down spectroscopy, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 69, 305-325.
Ohtsuki, S., N. Iwagami, H. Sagawa, M. Ueno, Y. Kasaba, T. Imamura, and E. Nishihara (2008), Imaging spectroscopy of the Venus 1.27-μm, O2 airglow with ground-based telescopes, Adv. Space Res., 41, 1375-1380, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2007.10.014.
Piccioni, G., L. Zasova, A. Migliorini, P. Drossart, A. Shakun, A. García Muñoz, F. P. Mills, and A. Cardesin-Moinelo (2009a), Near-IR oxygen nightglow observed by VIRTIS in the Venus upper atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 114, E00B38, doi:10.1029/2008JE003133.
Piccioni, G., et al. (2009b), The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, Eur. Space Agency Spec. Publ., ESA SP-1295, in press.
Saglam, A., J.-C. Gérard, L. Soret, G. Piccioni, and P. Drossart (2009), Characteristics of the OH infrared nightglow in the Venus mesosphere and correlation with the O2 (1Δ) emission at 1.27 mm based on VIRTIS limb observations, submitted to Advances in Space Research.
Stewart, A. I., and C. A. Barth (1979), Ultraviolet night airglow of Venus, Science, 205, 59-62, doi:10.1126/science.205.4401.59.
Stewart, A. I. F., J.-C. Gérard, D. W. Rusch, and S. W. Bougher (1980), Morphology of the Venus ultraviolet night airglow, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 7861-7870, doi:10.1029/JA085iA13p07861.
Svedhem, H., et al. (2007), Venus Express: The first European mission to Venus, Planet. Space Sci., 55, 1636-1652, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2007. 01.013. (Pubitemid 47488434)
Titov, D. V., et al. (2006), Venus Express science planning, Planet. Space Sci., 54, 1279-1297, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2006.04.017.