ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-11-9595-2011 The observation of chemiluminescent NiO* emissions in the laboratory and in the night airglow Evans W. F. J. 1 2 Gattinger R. L. 3 Broadfoot A. L. 4 Llewellyn E. J. 3 Northwest Research Associates Inc., 4118 148 Avenue N.E., Redmond, WA 98052, USA Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada ISAS, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, 116 Science Place, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721-0092, USA 16 09 2011 11 18 9595 9603 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/9595/2011/acp-11-9595-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/9595/2011/acp-11-9595-2011.pdf

The recent finding of an orange spectral feature in OSIRIS/Odin spectra of the night airglow near 87 km has raised interest in the origin of the emission. The feature was positively identified as the chemiluminescent FeO* emission where the iron is of meteoric origin. Since the meteorite source of atomic metals in the mesosphere contains both iron and nickel, with Ni being typically 6 % of Fe, it is expected that faint emissions involving Ni should also be present in the night airglow. The present study summarizes the laboratory observations of chemiluminescent NiO* emissions and includes a search for the NiO* signature in the night airglow. A very faint previously unidentified "continuum" extending longwave of 440 nm has been detected in the night airglow spectra obtained with two space-borne limb viewing instruments. Through a comparison with laboratory spectra this continuum is identified as arising from the NiO* emission. The altitude profile of the new airglow emission has also been measured. The similarity of the altitude profiles of the FeO* and NiO* emissions also suggests the emission is NiO as both can originate from reaction of the metal atoms with mesospheric ozone. The observed NiO* to FeO* ratio exhibits considerable variability; possible causes of this observed variation are briefly discussed.

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