The ionospheric oxygen green airglow: Electron temperature dependence and aeronomical implications.

The laboratory measurement of processes involved in terrestrial airglows is essential in developing diagnostic tools of the dynamics and photochemistr y of the upper atmosphere. Dissociative electron recombination of O-2(+) in the ionospheric F-region is expected to produce both O(D-1) and O(S-1) whi ch are the sources of the 630.0 nm red airglow and the 557.7 nm green airgl ow Lines, respectively. We present both theoretical and experimental eviden ce, the latter from a heavy ion storage ring technique, that the O(S-1) qua ntum yield from O-2(+) (v = 0) is a strong function of the electron tempera ture due to a molecular resonance phenomenon. At present the O-2(+) (v = 0) theoretical and laboratory recombination data cannot explain rocket observ ations of the ionospheric green and red airglows [Takahashi et al. 1990; So bral et al. 1992].