Effects of the atmospheric scale height gradient on the variation of ionization and short wave absorption

Abstract

A discussion of the effect of a variable atmospheric scale height is given. A linear gradient of the scale height is used and it is found that special conditions for ionized layer formation are possible. Also; the variation of the layer critical frequency with the altitude of the sun above the horizon and of the short wave absorption are found to be affected by the variation of the scale height. The scale height variation is involved in expressions for the absorption of the solar radiation and the electronic recombination coefficient.