Ion and neutral composition changes in the thermospheric region during magnetic storms |
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| Authors: | S Chandra |
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| Institution: | Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 20771, U.S.A.; Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, 3411 Lindau/Harz, West Germany |
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| Abstract: | The structural differences of the ion and neutral composition in the thermospheric region are studied by solving a system of basic ionospheric and atmospheric equations. The study shows that the compositional changes during a magnetic storm arise largely as a result of changes in the neutral composition at the turbopause. A decrease in O]/N2] in the lower atmosphere triggers a complex chain of events which results in an increase of the neutral gas temperature, depletion of the O+ layer and enhancement of NO+. The relative changes in these layers occasionally produce a sequence of electron density profiles giving rise to the so-called G condition. It is shown that, compared to the neutral atmosphere, the ionosphere is much more sensitive to the changes in O]/N2] in the lower thernaospheric region. Since the ionospheric parameters can be measured much more accurately than the atmospheric parameters, it is argued that they should form an integral part of the observational data required to construct the atmospheric models. |
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