Effects of vibrationally excited molecular nitrogen on ionospheric-thermospheric coupling for different levels of solar activity

Abstract

An analysis has been made of the interaction between neutral and ionized thermospheric components and processes of the generation, transfer and dissipation of vibrationally excited nitrogen molecules. Analytical expressions for these interactions with the topside thermosphere have been developed. It has been shown that the collision frequency ν ei is a direct measure of the excited components N 2,ν Naturally, a complete analysis of N 2,ν and its effects is possible only when it is rationally combined with airglow measurements. As an example, the saturation effects of N 2,ν have been considered for different levels of solar activity, in particular the considerable increase of [NO +] [O 2 +] during a very active Sun and its role in restricting electron density growth rates.