The Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE) Database

The SNOE database consists of measurements of nitric oxide density in the thermosphere made with an ultraviolet spectrometer and observations of the solar soft x-ray irradiance in the 2-7 nm wavelength range obtained with an x-ray photometer for the period March 10, 1998 - September 30, 2000. The nitric oxide density data covers the altitude range 97-150 km at 3.3 km intervals, the latitude range 80 degrees S to 80 degrees N at 5 degree intervals, and the longitude range 180 degrees W to 180 degrees E at 24 degree intervals. The SNOE spacecraft is in a sun-synchronous orbit with a 10:30 AM northbound equatorial crossing, with 15 orbits per day. The basic nitric oxide data set consists of three levels of processing: (1) daily averages of nitric oxide density as a function of latitude and altitude, (2) orbit by orbit measurements of nitric oxide density as a function of latitude, altitude, and orbit number, and (3) daily maps of nitric oxide density as a function of latitude, longitude, and altitude. There is a secondary data set of two additional levels of processing: (4) column densities of nitric oxide as a function of latitude, altitude, and orbit number, and (5) ultraviolet radiance at 237 nm as a function of latitude and longitude of the spacecraft and the look direction of the spinning spacecraft. The altitude scale for four levels of processing was determined by matching the ultraviolet radiance profiles to a model of the atmospheric Rayleigh scattering. The solar soft x-ray data set consists of daily averages of the solar irradiance in the 2-7 nm wavelength range.