Effect of hot oxygen on thermospheric OIUVairglow

The role of nonthermal oxygen atoms in the vertical distribution of the O I 989 Angstrom EUV multiplet intensity is investigated using a thermospheric radiative transfer code. The superthermal oxygen concentration and tempera tures are derived from the energy distribution functions of the O(P-3) atom s calculated by a Monte Carlo stochastic model, and their effect on UV radi ative transfer is compared to sounding rocket observations. The calculated intensity increase associated with the perturbation of the Doppler profile by the presence of hot O(P-3) atoms is shown to be insufficient to account for the set of sounding rocket EUV intensity data.