The excitation of O2 in auroras.

Newly measured electron impact cross sections for excitation of the a super 1 Delta sub g and b super 1 Sigma (plus) sub g electronic states of O2 have been employed to predict the absolute volume emission rates from these states under auroral conditions. A secondary electron flux typical of an IBC II nighttime aurora was used, and the most important quenching processes were included in the calculations. The new excitation cross sections for the a super 1 Delta sub g and b super 1 Sigma (plus) sub g states are more than an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates and lead to correspondingly greater intensities in the atmospheric and IR atmospheric band systems. The calculated intensity ratios of the volume emission rates of 7621 A and 1.27 micron to that for 3914 A are smaller than those obtained from aircraft observations and recent rocket experiments.