CHANGES IN THERMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION INFERRED FROM TWILIGHT O+(P-2) EMISSION

Measurements of the twilight enhancement of airglow emission from O+(2P) near 7325 Å reveal major changes which accompany geomagnetic activity, no significant distance between evening and morning and an increase in brightness paralleling the approach to solar maximum. The principal source for O+(2P) is direct photoionization from O(3P) but at low solar activity there appears to be a contribution from another source in early twilight which may be local photoelectron ionization into O+(2P). The geomagnetic and solar effects appear to reflect changes in the O and N2 density in the thermosphere; ground based twilight measurements of O+ emissions thus provide a simple means for monitoring thermospheric structure from 300 km to ∼ 500 km at solar minimum and to ∼600 km at solar maximum. © 1979.