Oxygen in Earth’s Higher Atmosphere – First detection of the atomic 18O isotope in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Earth
In a new experiment, Helmut Wiesemeyer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn/Germany and his colleagues have measured the 18O fraction of the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere for the first time. They used the GREAT receiver aboard the airborne observatory SOFIA and found that the upper atmosphere has an 18O fraction close to that of [...]