Rocket study of ionization and recombination rates in the F-region taking account of charged particle drift

Abstract

The information on neutral and ionized components of the upper atmosphere is obtained as a result of simultaneous measurements performed with Soviet geophysical rockets by means of the dispersion interferometer, the photoelectron analyser and probe instruments. The height profile of the effective recombination coefficient in the F2-region was calculated with each of three following assumptions: 1. (1) the motion term was ignored in the ionization balance equation; 2. (2) the motion term was accounted for the vertical diffusion; 3. (3) the vertical diffusion and the neutral wind effect calculated by J.W. King was taken into account. Evaluations showed that in some cases the charged particle transfer essentially affects both the altitude distribution of the effective recombination coefficient and its absolute values above the F2-region maximum. Variations of these values can reach a factor of 2 if the charged particle transfer is taken into account.