Spatial correlation of OH Meinel and O2 infrared atmospheric nightglow emissions observed with VIRTIS-M on board Venus Express

We present the two-dimensional distribution of the O2 a1Δ–X3Σ (0–0) band at 1.27 μm and the OH Δv = 1 Meinel airglow measured simultaneously with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board Venus Express. We show that the two emissions present very similar spatial structures. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that the highest level of correlation is reached with only very small relative shifts of the pairs of images. In spite of the strong spatial correlation between the morphology of the bright spots in the two emissions, we also show that their relative intensity is not constant, in agreement with earlier statistical studies of their limb profiles. We conclude that the two emissions have a common precursor that controls the production of both excited species. We argue that atomic oxygen, which produces O2 (1Δ) molecules by three-body recombination and is the precursor of ozone formation, also governs to a large extent the OH airglow morphology through the H + O3 → OH* + O2 reaction.