Experimentally investigate ionospheric depletion chemicals in artificially created ionosphere

Abstract

A new approach for investigating ionosphere chemical depletion in the laboratory is introduced. Air glow discharge plasma closely resembling the ionosphere in both composition and chemical reactions is used as the artificially created ionosphere. The ionospheric depletion experiment is accomplished by releasing chemicals such as SF6, CCl2F2, and CO2 into the model discharge. The evolution of the electron density is investigated by varying the plasma pressure and input power. It is found that the negative ion (SF6−, CCl2F2−) intermediary species provide larger reduction of the electron density than the positive ion (CO2+) intermediary species. The negative ion intermediary species are also more efficient in producing ionospheric holes because of their fast reaction rates. Airglow enhancement attributed to SF6 and CO2 releases agrees well with the published data. Compared to the traditional methods, the new scheme is simpler to use, both in the release of chemicals and in the electron density measurements. It is therefore more efficient for investigating the release of chemicals in the ionosphere.