ALOHA/ANLC-93

OH Nightglow Image

Image of near-infrared emissions from the OH nightglow layer at an altitude of approximately 87 km. The image, which was acquired with the all-sky camera on the NCAR Electra aircraft during the 1993 ALOHA campaign, reveals strong mesospheric wave activity possibly related to a large tropospheric storm system. Such observations of variations in the intensity and temperature of the nightglow emissions from excited OH, O₃, O₂, and Na provide important information about the propagation of gravity waves through the middle atmosphere.

Reference: G. R. Swenson and P. J. Espy, Observations of 2-dimensional airglow structure and Na density from the ALOHA, October 9, 1993 'storm flight', Geophysical Research Letter, 22, 2845-2848, 1995.

Animations of OH Nightglow images.