Atmospheric non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emissions as observed by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS)

In this article we report the most recent advances of our knowledge of non-LTE atmospheric emissions gained from the MIPAS spectra on the Envisat satellite. These include improvements in our knowledge: of the collisional processes between the CO₂ (10⁰1), (02²1), and (02⁰1) vibrational levels; of the nascent distribution and collisional relaxation of the O₃ vibrational states; and of the vibrational-vibrational energy transfer rates between H₂O(020) and O₂. In addition we report: the first evidence of mesospheric CH₄ ν 4 7.6-μm emission; much lower non-LTE populations of the NO 2 (v₃ = 1 - 4) in the daytime stratosphere than previously thought; the first experimental confirmation of the non-LTE excitation of NO(1) in the daytime stratosphere; and the first detection of the CO first hot band non-LTE emission near 4.7 μm.