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Conway et al. 1996
Conway, R.R., Stevens, M.H., Cardon, J.G., Zasadil, S.E., Brown, C.M., Morrill, J.S. and Mount, G.H. (1996). Satellite measurements of hydroxyl in the mesosphere. Geophysical Research Letters 23: doi: 10.1029/96GL01401. issn: 0094-8276.

The global distribution of hydroxyl (OH) in the middle atmosphere was recently measured by the Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) on a satellite deployed and retrieved by the space shuttle. During 75 orbits, MAHRSI acquired 1800 daytime limb scans of the OH ultraviolet solar resonance fluorescence intensity. Each limb scan extends over the altitude region from 30 to 90 km and across 10¿ of latitude between 53 ¿S and 63 ¿N. OH number densities were retrieved using a Twomey regularization scheme constrained by the smoothness of the retrieved profile. Results provide a detailed description of the diurnal variation of mesospheric OH. Midmorning OH densities had a well defined peak of about 6¿106 cm-3 near 70 km, a broad minimum centered near 64 km, and rose to about 1¿107 cm-3 at 50 km. This profile is in substantial disagreement with photochemical model predictions [Summers et al., this issue>. The observations are compared with the two previous measurements. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996

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Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Airglow and aurora, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Middle atmosphere—composition and chemistry, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Transmission and scattering of radiation, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Instruments and techniques
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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