Correlation of airglow temperature and emission rate at Resolute Bay (74.68°N), over four winters (2001-2005)

Abstract

The rotational temperature and emission rate of the OH (6-2) Meinel band and the O2 (0-1) Atmospheric band were monitored with a Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager (SATI), located at Resolute Bay (74.68°N, 94.90°W) since November, 2001. A strong correlation between these two quantities is found in data taken over a single day. This is consistent with previous model and observational results of wave motions in airglow and with model calculations presented here. The same correlation is observed over one month, over one winter and even from winter to winter. This means that similar dynamical processes are involved for perturbations with periods of a few hours or for many days or months. This suggests that all scales of dynamical variations during the polar winter arise from vertical motions, and that the effective source concentration of atomic oxygen at some reference level is remarkably constant. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.