CC BY 4.0 UnportedGrygalashvyly, M.Eberhart, M.Hedin, J.Strelnikov, B.Lübken, F.-J.Rapp, M.Löhle, S.Fasoulas, S.Khaplanov, M.Gumbel, J.Vorobeva, E.2020-11-252020-11-252019https://doi.org/10.34657/4629https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/6000Based on self-consistent rocket-borne measurements of temperature, the densities of atomic oxygen and neutral air, and the volume emission of the atmospheric band (762 nm), we examined the one-step and two-step excitation mechanism of O2 + b16C g for nighttime conditions. Following McDade et al. (1986), we derived the empirical fitting coefficients, which parameterize the atmospheric band emission O2 + b16C g X36 g .0;0/. This allows us to derive the atomic oxygen concentration from nighttime observations of atmospheric band emission O2 + b16C g X36 g .0; 0/. The derived empirical parameters can also be utilized for atmospheric band modeling. Additionally, we derived the fit function and corresponding coefficients for the combined (one- and two-step) mechanism. The simultaneous common volume measurements of all the parameters involved in the theoretical calculation of the observed O2 + b16C g X36 g .0; 0/ emission, i.e., temperature and density of the background air, atomic oxygen density, and volume emission rate, is the novelty and the advantage of this work. © Author(s) 2019.enghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/550atmospheric chemistryconcentration (composition)empirical analysisexperimental studyoxygentemperature effectArticle