Aeronomic consequences of solar flux variations between 2000 and 1325 Angstroms

A theoretical analysis has been performed of the effects of recent solar flux measurements below 2000 A on the basic atmospheric O/sub 2/ photodissociation and heating rates as a function of the O/sub 2/ column density. These experimental solar data suggest that such basic rates at the top of the atmosphere be reduced to as low as 1/4 the values computed with previously recommended solar fluxes. There is also a dependence of the photodissociation and heating rates on the column density of O/sub 2/ traversed by the solar flux; the variations in these rates due to the different solar flux data decrease with an increase in the O/sub 2/ column density. Atmospheric altitude profiles of the O/sub 2/ dissociation and heating rates exhibit a comparable variation with the solar flux intensity at the above wavelengths. Lower and perhaps highly variable solar fluxes are supported by other observational data and are found to improve the theoretical consistency between the vertical transport requirements necessary to explain the O/O/sub 2/ and A/N/sub 2/ concentration measurements in the lower thermosphere.