Title:
The importance of new chemical sources for the hot oxygen geocorona
Authors:
Gerard, J. C.; Richards, P. G.; Shematovich, V. I.; Bisikalo, D. V.
Affiliation:
AAUniv. de Liege, Belgium ABThe Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, US ACInst. of Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia ADInst. of Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Journal:
Geopysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 22, no. 3, p. 279-282 (GeoRL Homepage)
Publication Date:
02/1995
Category:
Geophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
ATMOSPHERIC MODELS, EXOSPHERE, EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS, GEOCORONAL EMISSIONS, MONTE CARLO METHOD, OXYGEN ATOMS, STOCHASTIC PROCESSES, THERMOSPHERE, BOLTZMANN TRANSPORT EQUATION, COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION, MOLECULAR IONS, RECOMBINATION REACTIONS
Bibliographic Code:
1995GeoRL..22..279G

Abstract

Exothermic reactions involving metastable neutrals and ions were recently proposed as sources of hot oxygen atoms in addition to the classical O2(+) and NO(+) dissociative recombination. The Boltzmann equations for thermal and nonthermal populations of O atoms are solved with Monte Carlo stochastic simulation method. It is shown that the calculated energy distribution functions of O atoms are significantly in nonequilibrium in the transition region between the thermosphere and the exosphere. It is found that the inclusion of additional sources leads to stronger disturbances of the energy distribution function and, as a consequence, increases the nonthermal fraction of hot O atoms. The variation of the vertical distribution of hot O between solar maximum and minimum conditions is also evaluated and shows good agreement with the available experimental evidence.