MODEL OF THE 5.3 MU-M RADIANCE FROM NO DURING THE SUNLIT TERRESTRIAL THERMOSPHERE

This paper models the fundamental vibration-rotation band emission fro m NO around 5.3 mu m observed by the interferometer aboard the cryogen ic infrared radiance instrumentation for shuttle (CIRRIS 1A) during th e sunlit terrestrial thermosphere. The four dominant contributions to the 5.3 mu m emission are solar pumping, the inelastic collisions with O of NO(v=0), the reactions of N(D-2) with O-2, and the reactions of N(S-4) with O-2,. The contribution to the chemiluminescence due to the .reaction of N(S-4) with O-2 is calculated using the energy distributi on function (EDF) of these atoms obtained by solving the time dependen t Boltzmann equation. The calculated radiance is derived using two mod el atmospheres: (1) the model atmosphere obtained from the atmospheric ultraviolet radiance integrated code (AURIC) [Strickland et at, 1998] and (2) the model atmosphere obtained from the thermosphere-ionospher e-mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM) [Rob le and Ridley, 1994]. The calculated results reproduce gross features of the CIRRIS 1A observations, and disagreement by a factor of similar to 2 in the total band radiance calls for a fine tuning of the model atmospheres and/or the underlying phenomenology. The cooling of the at mosphere at high altitudes due to chemiluminescence from the reaction of N(S-4) with O-2 is found to be comparable to that due to collisions of NO with O.