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In this study, the criterion for validity of the nighttime ozone chemical equilibrium assumption in the mesopause region is applied to Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry data for the year 2004 to define the boundary of this equilibrium. We demonstrate that the boundary varies within the range of 77-86 km depending on season and latitude and the retrieval of atomic oxygen from the equilibrium assumption below this boundary leads to significant (up to 5-8 times) underestimation of this component's concentration in the range of 80-85 km. However, this fact does not influence the subsequent atomic hydrogen retrieval.

Plain Language Summary The chemical equilibrium of nighttime ozone in the mesopause region is one of the main assumption which has been employed for several decades for determining distributions of atomic oxygen and atomic hydrogen via satellite and rocket measurements of ozone and airglow emissions. Usually, this assumption is used in the range of 80-105 km. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time from experimental data that the lower boundary, where the chemical equilibrium of nighttime ozone is valid, varies within the range of 77-86 km depending on season and latitude. The use of the equilibrium assumption under that boundary can lead to a great (up to 5-8 times) underestimation of 0 concentration in the range of 80-85 km but does not influence atomic hydrogen derivation.