A high-latitude (68¿N) rocket measurement of the NO2 continuum at 540 nm yielded an overhead intensity of 1.14 R/¿. The volume emission profile has been used with O densities, derived from measurements of the oxygen emissions made from the same rocket, to determine the NO profile for an air afterglow, which is excited via both two-body and three-body recombination paths. It is concluded that the NO concentration was 8¿108 cm -3, with a factor 2 uncertainty at the peak, and that this enhancement from quiet ionospheric conditions is probably due to extended particle precipitation prior to the launching.