First mass spectrometric measurements of positive ions in the stratosphere

Abstract

ROCKET and balloon-borne electrostatic probe measurements have shown that positive and negative ions are present in the stratosphere reaching number densities between 100 and 10,000 cm−3 (refs 1–5). The observed densities indicate that galactic cosmic radiation is the major ionisation source and mutual recombination is the dominant ion loss process. No experimental information exists, however, on the nature of stratospheric ions. Here we communicate the first mass spectrometric measurements of positive ions in the stratosphere.