Optical Upper Atmospheric Investigations at the University of Saskatchewan

Abstract

The history and philosophy of optical instrumentation for auroral and airglow studies, as developed at the University of Saskatchewan, is reviewed. Some details are given of the applications of grating spectroscopic systems, Fabry-Perot monochromators, Michelson interferometers, and birefringent and filter photometers with both photographic, photomultiplier, and photoconductive detectors. Finally, examples are given of the applications of these techniques to upper atmosphere temperature determinations, auroral excitation theory, auroral hydrogen arc studies, atmospheric alkali metals, and dayglow molecular oxygen emissions.