Abstract
It has long been realized that minor neutral constituents have a controlling influence on the thermal balance of the mesosphere. Following the suggestion by Nicolet (1945) that solar Lyman-a radiation can penetrate to mesospheric heights and ionize nitric oxide, it has become evident that this and other minor constituents also dominate the ionization processes of the D region (Reid, 1967). Information on the height distributions of certain minor constituents, such as ozone and nitric oxide, has been provided by rocket-borne observations, but the data available for others are based on photochemical treatments. The important feature included in recent theoretical models has been the realization that certain constituents have long photochemical lifetimes and their distributions can be seriously affected by transport processes; particular attention has been paid to the effects of eddy and molecular diffusion (Hesstvedt, 1968, 1969; Bowman et al., 1970; Shimazaki and Laird, 1970).
ESRO post-doctoral fellow on leave from the Meteorological Institute, Stockholm University, Sweden.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barth, C. A.: 1966, Ann. Geophys. 22 198–207.
Bates, D. R. and Nicolet, M.: 1950, J. Geophys. Res. 55, 301–327.
Bourdeau, R. E., Aikin, A. C., and Donley, J. L.: 1966, J. Geophys. Res. 71, 727–740.
Bowman, M. R., Thomas, L., and Geisler, J. E.: 1970, J. Atmospheric Terrest. Phys. 32, 1661–1674.
Burke, R. R.: 1970, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 1345–1347.
Carver, J. H., Horton, B. H., and Burger, F. G.: 1966, J. Geophys. Res. 71, 4189–4191.
Chanin, L. M., Phelps, A. V., and Biondi, M. A.: 1959, Phys. Rev. Letters 2, 344–346.
Dubin, M., Sissenwine, N., and Wexler, H.: 1962, U.S. Standard Atmosphere, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
Evans, W. F., Hunten, D. M., Llewellyn, E. J., and Vallance Jones, A.: 1968, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 2885–2896.
Fehsenfeld, F. C. and Ferguson, E. E.: 1968, Planetary Space Sci. 16, 701–702.
Fehsenfeld, F. C., Albritton, D. L., Burt, J. A., and Shiff, H. I.: 1969a, Can. J. Chem. 47, 1793–1795.
Fehsenfeld, F. C., Ferguson, E. E., and Bohme, D. K.: 1969b, Planetary Space Sci. 17, 1759–1762.
Fehsenfeld, F. C., Schmeltekopf, A. L., Schiff, H. I., and Ferguson, E. E.: 1967, Planetary Space Sci. 15, 373–379.
Ferguson, E. E.: 1969, Can. J. Chem. 47, 1815–1820.
Ferguson. E. E. and Fehsenfeld, F. C.: 1969, J. Geophys. Res. 74, 5743–5751.
Ferguson, E. E., Fehsenfeld, F. C., Goldan, P. D., and Schmeltekopf, A. L. 1965, J. Geophys. Res. 70, 4323–4329.
Gattinger, R. L.: 1969, Ann. Geophys. 25, 825–830.
Good, A., Durden, D. A., and Kebarle, P.: 1970a, J. Chem. Phys. 52, 212–221.
Good, A., Durden, D. A., and Kebarle, P.: 1970b, J. Chem. Phys. 52, 222–229.
Hesstvedt, E.: 1968, Geophys. Publik. 27, 1–35.
Hesstvedt, E.: 1969, Rept. Inst. Geophys., University of Oslo, December 1969.
Huffman, R. E., Paulsen, D. E., Larrabee, J. C., and Cairns, R. B.: 1971, J. Geophys. Res. 76, 1028–1038.
Hunt, B. G.: 1966, J. Geophys. Res. 71, 1385–1398.
Hunten, D. M. and McElroy, M. B.: 1968, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 2421–2428.
Hunten, D. M. and McElroy, M. B.: 1969, J. Geophys. Res. 74, 3067.
Johnson, F. S., Purcell, J. D., Tousey, R., and Watanabe, K.: 1952, J. Geophys. Res. 57, 157–176.
Lineburger, W. C. and Puckett, L. J.: 1969, Phys. Rev. 187, 286–291.
Mitra, A. P.: 1968, J. Atmospheric Terrest. Phys. 30, 1065–1114.
Narcisi, R. S. and Bailey, A. D.: 1965, J. Geophys. Res. 70, 3687–3700.
Narcisi, R. S., Bailey, A. D., Delia Lucca, L. E., and Sherman, C.: Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union 1969, 50, 654.
Nicolet, M.: 1945, Mem. Inst. Roy. Meteorol. Belg. 19, 83.
Nicolet, M. and Aikin, A. C.: 1960, J. Geophys. Res. 65, 1469–1483.
Pack, J. L. and Phelps, A. V.: 1966a, J. Chem. Phys. 44, 1870–1883.
Pack, J. L. and Phelps, A. V.: 1966b, J. Chem. Phys. 45, 4316–4329.
Puckett, L. J., Teague, M. W., and Kregel, M. D.: 1969, Presented at DASA Symposium on Physics and Chemistry of the Upper Atmosphere, Stanford Res. Inst., California, June 1969.
Reed, E. L: 1968, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 2951–2957.
Reid, G. C: 1967, in Space Res. 7, Vol. I (ed. by R. L. Smith-Rose) North-Holland Publ. Co., Amsterdam, 197–211.
Reid, G. C.: 1970, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 2551–2562.
Shimazaki, T. and Laird, A. R.: 1970, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 3221–3235.
Thomas, L.: 1971, J. Atmospheric Terrest. Phys. 33, 157–195.
Vallance Jones, A. and Gattinger, R. L.: 1963, Planetary Space Sci. 11, 961–974.
Webber, W.: 1962, J. Geophys. Res. 67, 5091–5106.
Weeks, L. G. and Smith, L. G.: 1968, Planetary Space Sci. 16, 1189–1195.
Weller, C. S. and Biondi, M. A.: 1968, Phys. Rev. 172, 198–206.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1971 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Thomas, L. (1971). Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen Constituents in the Mesosphere and Ionization Processes. In: Fiocco, G. (eds) Mesospheric Models and Related Experiments. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3114-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3114-1_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-3116-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-3114-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive