Projects

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important trace species in the Earth's atmosphere. Although highly variable, it plays a significant role in the mesosphere and thermosphere region due to its low ionization energy and acts as the terminal ion in charge exchange reactions and in certain important ion-molecule and ion-atom reactions. The NO molecule is, due to the above mentioned reasons, mainly responsible for ionization in D region. Due to the presence of the IR-active vibrational modes, NO plays a very important role in establishing the lower thermospheric temperatures. Auroral and geomagnetic activity, Joule heating and particle heating influences the NO density in higher latitudes, whereas the compressional heating, molecular diffusion and meridional transport from higher latitudes contribute to the variation in low latitudes.

Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light in order to shed their excess energy.  The all-sky imager provides monochromatic maps of airglow emission for lines of interest by using a high quality cooled CCD camera. It is capable of detecting the perturbation of the intensity of the airglow layer induced by gravity waves. A multi-wavelength allsky airglow imager has been installed over the Indian Himalayan region at Hanle, Leh Ladakh, (32.77°N, 78.97°E; Magnetic dip latitude ~24.1°). This is the first of its kind that is installed in the Indian Himalayan region at an altitude of around 4200 m above the mean sea level. The allsky imager is located at the base camp of the Indian Astronomical Observatory which is operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, India. The imager was procured through an extramural research grant from the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. 

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