Articles | Volume 25, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12843-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12843-2025
Research article
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15 Oct 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 15 Oct 2025

The global O2 airglow field as seen by the MATS satellite: strong equatorial maximum and planetary wave influence

Björn Linder, Lukas Krasauskas, Linda Megner, and Donal P. Murtagh

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Cited articles

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Ern, M., Preusse, P., Alexander, M. J., and Warner, C. D.: Absolute values of gravity wave momentum flux derived from satellite data, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 109, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD004752, 2004. a
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Executive editor
The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere in an altitude range of approximately 50-80km. Whilst the mass of the mesosphere is relatively very small, it is an important component of the climate system. Changes in the circulation and composition of the lower atmosphere may, for example, become evident through changes in the mesosphere. The recently launched MATS satellite will make valuable observations of mesospheric characteristics and this paper reports early observations of the oxygen airglow in particular. The global-scale structures in the airglow give valuable information on large-scale mesospheric dynamics.
Short summary
The Swedish satellite MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) conducts global measurements of atmospheric airglow in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. In this article, we present the first global results from the mission. Observations from February to April 2023 show that the emission strength is largely controlled by atmospheric tides and by perturbations introduced by a propagating planetary wave.
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