Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation

Abstract We report laboratory results that support a recently proposed mechanism for relaxation of highly vibrationally excited hydroxyl radical by ground‐state oxygen atoms (Sharma et al., GRL 42, 4639–4647 (2015)). According to this mechanism, which eventually leads to an enhancement of nocturnal...

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Main Authors: Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis, Daniel Matsiev, Ramesh D. Sharma, Peter P. Wintersteiner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-09-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069645
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author Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis
Daniel Matsiev
Ramesh D. Sharma
Peter P. Wintersteiner
author_facet Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis
Daniel Matsiev
Ramesh D. Sharma
Peter P. Wintersteiner
author_sort Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We report laboratory results that support a recently proposed mechanism for relaxation of highly vibrationally excited hydroxyl radical by ground‐state oxygen atoms (Sharma et al., GRL 42, 4639–4647 (2015)). According to this mechanism, which eventually leads to an enhancement of nocturnal 4.3 µm CO2 emissions in the mesosphere, the deactivation of OH(high υ) by O(3P) involves a fast, spin‐allowed, multiquantum vibration‐to‐electronic (V‐E) energy transfer process generating O(1D). We present laser‐based experiments that demonstrate these energy transfer processes in action and discuss some implications of the new mechanism for mesospheric OH. These developments represent a breakthrough addressing the long‐standing problem of unacceptably large discrepancies between models and observations of the nocturnal mesospheric 4.3 µm emission.
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institution OA Journals
issn 0094-8276
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publishDate 2016-09-01
publisher Wiley
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-8305ff9cf5cd4fa7830512428c9643ec2025-08-20T02:31:42ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-09-0143178835884310.1002/2016GL069645Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxationKonstantinos S. Kalogerakis0Daniel Matsiev1Ramesh D. Sharma2Peter P. Wintersteiner3Center for Geospace Studies SRI International Menlo Park California USACenter for Geospace Studies SRI International Menlo Park California USAInstitute for Scientific Research Boston College Newton Massachusetts USAArcon Corporation Waltham Massachusetts USAAbstract We report laboratory results that support a recently proposed mechanism for relaxation of highly vibrationally excited hydroxyl radical by ground‐state oxygen atoms (Sharma et al., GRL 42, 4639–4647 (2015)). According to this mechanism, which eventually leads to an enhancement of nocturnal 4.3 µm CO2 emissions in the mesosphere, the deactivation of OH(high υ) by O(3P) involves a fast, spin‐allowed, multiquantum vibration‐to‐electronic (V‐E) energy transfer process generating O(1D). We present laser‐based experiments that demonstrate these energy transfer processes in action and discuss some implications of the new mechanism for mesospheric OH. These developments represent a breakthrough addressing the long‐standing problem of unacceptably large discrepancies between models and observations of the nocturnal mesospheric 4.3 µm emission.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069645hydroxylatomic oxygen4.3 µm emissionmesosphereenergy transfer
spellingShingle Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis
Daniel Matsiev
Ramesh D. Sharma
Peter P. Wintersteiner
Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
Geophysical Research Letters
hydroxyl
atomic oxygen
4.3 µm emission
mesosphere
energy transfer
title Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
title_full Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
title_fullStr Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
title_full_unstemmed Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
title_short Resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4.3 µm emission puzzle: Laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for OH(υ) relaxation
title_sort resolving the mesospheric nighttime 4 3 µm emission puzzle laboratory demonstration of new mechanism for oh υ relaxation
topic hydroxyl
atomic oxygen
4.3 µm emission
mesosphere
energy transfer
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069645
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AT rameshdsharma resolvingthemesosphericnighttime43μmemissionpuzzlelaboratorydemonstrationofnewmechanismforohyrelaxation
AT peterpwintersteiner resolvingthemesosphericnighttime43μmemissionpuzzlelaboratorydemonstrationofnewmechanismforohyrelaxation