Electron impact ionization: A new parameterization for 100 eV to 1 MeV electrons

Abstract

We present a new parameterization of the altitude profile of the ionization rate in the Earth's atmosphere due to precipitating energetic electrons. Precipitating electrons are assumed to have a Maxwellian energy distribution and an isotropic pitch angle distribution above the atmosphere. In this study, two electron transport models (whose validity has been verified by observations) are employed to calculate the ionization rate, to which we have fit our new parameterization. To derive a new parameterization, we follow a similar scheme to that of Roble and Ridley (1987) but take into account further functional dependence on the incident electron energy. As a result, the new method presented in this paper provides a highly improved prediction for electron impact in a significantly extended energy range from 100 eV to 1 MeV, spanning 4 orders of magnitude. Note that we have neglected the contribution of bremsstrahlung X rays generated by energetic electrons, which are mostly important below 50 km altitude. The comparison of parameterization results with model calculations shows that the errors generally fall well within ±5% in both the altitude‐integrated total ionization rate and the peak value. The altitude profile as a whole is also accurately predicted, with errors in the altitudes of the peak and e‐folding ionization rates significantly less than 5 km. The proposed new parameterization method with high accuracy is thus ready to be implemented into global models to assess the electron impact on the ionosphere and the atmosphere.