Mesospheric nitric oxide model from SCIAMACHY data

Abstract

We present an empirical model for nitric oxide (NO) in the mesosphere (60–90 km) derived from SCIAMACHY limb scan data. Our model relates the daily (longitudinally) averaged NO number densities from SCIAMACHY as a function of geomagnetic latitude to the solar Lyman-alpha and the geomagnetic AE indices. We use a non-linear regression model, incorporating a finite and seasonally varying lifetime for the geomagnetically induced NO.