Altitude profiles of the atmospheric system of O2 and of the green line emission

Measurements of the Atmospheric System (AS) of the O2 and green line of O(1S) emission profiles have been analysed and photochemical schemes chosen to explain these measurements. During night-time, both emissions can be mainly explained by energy transfer mechanisms following atomic oxygen recombination. The analysis of the emissions shows that the O2(b1Σg +) state could be produced via a precursor having the ratio of the rate coefficient of quenching by atomic oxygen to that by molecular oxygen equal to three, while the precursor of the O(1S) state would have a quenching ratio greater than five. The only available observation of the AS dayglow has been used to derive an altitude profile of the mesospheric ozone by the use of a photochemical scheme that includes O2 photoabsorption and transfer from O(1D) as the main sources of O2(b1Σg +) during the daytime. © 1992.