Observations of Ultraviolet Emission from Mg+ in the Lower and Middle Thermosphere

New observations of ionized magnesium dayglow are reported from the Ionospheric Spectroscopy and Atmospheric Chemistry (ISAAC) instrument on the ARGOS satellite. We focused on two periods, October 14-28 1999 and November 15-30 1999, when ISAAC obtained high quality limb spectra between 2600 and 3000 Å and from 85 to 350 km tangent altitude. In addition to the resonant scattering by Mg⁺ near 2800 Å, these limb spectra also contain signatures of fluorescent scattering by nitric oxide in the gamma bands, emission by molecular nitrogen in the Vergard-Kaplan bands, and atomic emission by oxygen in the 2972 Å line. A retrieval algorithm has been developed to measure the abundance of nitric oxide using the intensity of fluorescent scattering in the γ (1,5) band at 2670 Å. This technique then allows for separating the overlapping emission by nitric oxide in the γ (1,6) band from the Mg⁺ doublet at 2800 Å. Retrieved Mg⁺ column densities have been mapped as a function of altitude and geomagnetic latitude.