Reply to Cragin et al: 1987 Report on Decreases of Ultraviolet Dayglow Intensities

摘要

Cragin et al. (1987) conclude that the decreases of ultraviolet dayglow intensities, or 'atmospheric holes', as reported by Frank et al. (1986a) are not geophysical events on the basis of their analyses of the telemetered count rates from the imaging instrumentation. Our examination of the analyses and results reported by Cragin et al. (1987) reveals serious errors and insufficiencies that eliminate the foundations for their claims. We provide here the proper theoretical treatment for anticipated instrument responses to small, opaque objects and the correct processing of the telemetered pixels. We find that our analyses further support our previous conclusion that the atmospheric holes are a geophysical effect.