1. Comparison of SABER OH Measurements to Rocket Photometry Data
Jordan Rozum, Gene A. Ware, Doran J. Baker Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium, Utah State University

2. SABER Background
SABER Instrument – Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry
TIMED Satellite – Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics
MLTI – Mesosphere Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere
OH VER – Hydroxyl Volume Emission Rate
Typical OH altitude profile as measured by SABER
SABER orbits the Earth every half-hour, covering 70% of the globe. Scanning approximately every 60 seconds, SABER measures almost 1500 scans per day and has been at it for a decade. In the two OH channels, this gives us nearly 10 million profiles to work with.

3. Rockets
From 1961 to 1986, several rockets were launched with photometers on board to measure the OH layer. The results were cataloged by Baker and Stair in 1988.
Because of the Wealth of data SABER provides, we can make matches to these launches.
We select for (in order of importance)
Solar Zenith Angle
Latitude
Day of Year
Longitude

4. Peak Width and Altitude
The rocket measurements and SABER measurements agree on peak width and altitude:
(Rocket Measured Parameters are from Baker and Stair)
Rocket Measured Width (FWHM)
SABER um Measured Width (FWHM)
SABER um Measured Width (FWHM)
Rocket Measured Peak Alt.
SABER um Measured Peak Alt.
SABER um Measured Peak Alt.
Mean (km)
8.6
7.7
9.0
86.8
84.3
87.7
Standard Deviation (km)
3.1
1.5
2.1
2.6
6.7
2.0

5. Bifurcation
A significant portion of SABER profiles show evidence of OH layer bifurcation
The distribution of bifurcation is not uniform among the rocket- SABER matches
We are currently investigating possible explanations, such as solar zenith angle bias and other lurking variables

6. References
Baker, D.J. And Stair, A.T. “Rocket Measurements of the Altitude Distributions of the Hydroxyl Airglow”. 6th International Symposium on Solar Terrestrial Physics (1988).
SABER Data processed by GATS, Inc.
(gats-inc.com)