Observations of V = 1–0 emission from thermospheric nitric oxide by ISAMS

The Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has made global measurements of emission from the 1→0 band of nitric oxide (NO), using a limb viewing geometry in which the tangent point is scanned from 0 km to >150 km. Vertical profiles of atmospheric radiance often show a peak around 120 km altitude, due to the relatively high temperatures and densities of NO(v=1) found in the lower thermosphere. In this letter we report on some aspects of the radiance from NO(v=1), in particular observations of the lower thermosphere during periods of quiet and intense geomagnetic activity.