Abstract A new empirical model of the topside ionospheric density was developed to describe the measured topside profile accurately. This profiler is a composite of two separate layers of different ion species in the topside ionosphere, the O+ layer and the light-ions (H+ and He+) layer. The light-ions layer is characterized by an α-Chapman function with a linearly increasing scale height with altitude. This new model appears to perform the best as compared to five other typical topside profilers in representing data from ISIS-1&2 and Alouette-1&2 observations. We also analyzed the magnetic latitude dependence, seasonal variation, and day–night difference of the characteristic parameters of the light-ions layer during the magnetic quiet (Kp <4) and low solar activity (f107<120 solar flux unit, sfu) period within magnetic latitudes from −60° to 90°. The statistical results show the expected different behaviors of light-ions and O+ parameters. In addition, the portion of the light-ion components contributing to the topside-ionospheric total electron content (TTEC) was studied also. The results suggest that the light ions make a great contribution to the TTEC, especially in magnetic low- and middle-latitudes at night.
A new topside profiler based on Alouette/ISIS topside sounding
Advances in Space Research ; 56 , 10 ; 2080-2090
2015-08-14
11 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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