LAUSR

Abstract This study presents methods for retrieving the altitude profiles of atomic oxygen, [O(3P)], ozone, [O3], and carbon dioxide, [CO2], concentrations in the daytime mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) in the framework of the YM2011 model of the electronic-vibrational oxygen kinetics. The emissions of singlet oxygen molecules O2(b1Σ+g, v ≤ 2), O2(a1Δg, v = 0) and the O(1D) atom are used as proxy of the [O(3P)], [O3] and [CO2]. For all the proposed techniques, we compare the uncertainty values of the retrieved [O(3P)], [O3] and [CO2], obtained by the Monte Carlo method, with estimations obtained by the sensitivity analysis method in the earlier works. For all the above mentioned methods for retrieving the [O(3P)], [O3] and [CO2] profiles, we obtained analytical expressions that include the concentrations of excited substances considered as proxies. In addition, the optimal altitude ranges for using these remote sensing methods were determined based on the results of numerical experiments by the Monte Carlo method.