Positive ion-neutral reactions in the ionosphere—reprinted from theJournal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 12, No. 17, pp. 4323-4329 (1965)
✍ Scribed by Ferguson, E. E.; Fehsenfeld, F. C.; Goldan, P. D.; Schmeltekopf, A. L.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 226 KB
- Volume
- 32
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1076-5174
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Daytime positive ion densities calculated using recently measured laboratory ion-neutral reaction rate constants are compared with the NRL rocket results between 120 and 220 km. The calculated O`and N 2 densities are found to be in good agreement with the ionospheric observations. The main loss process in N 2 this region is the reaction
This reaction is also the major source of NOat 140 km. The charge-transfer reaction O 2 ] NO ] NO] O 2 appears to be a signiÐcant source of NOat 120 km and indeed may be the major source. The reaction
will be signiÐcant at 120 km if the ratio of atomic to molecular nitrogen is as large as 10~4. The fast loss in O 2 reaction with NO at 120 km at night requires a local ionization source greater than 1 ion/cc sec to O 2 maintain the observed concentration. 1965 American Geophysical Union. O 2 `(