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The effective recombination coefficient of electrons in the ionosphere between 50 and 150 km
Author(s) -
Gledhill J. A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs021i003p00399
Subject(s) - ionosphere , physics , electron , solar flare , recombination , astrophysics , polar , proton , atmospheric sciences , atomic physics , f region , solar cycle , computational physics , geophysics , astronomy , plasma , chemistry , nuclear physics , solar wind , biochemistry , gene
The literature on values of the effective recombination coefficient α of electrons between heights of 50 and 150 km has been critically examined. It is found that, during auroral events at night, it may be represented by the expression α = 4.30×10 −6 exp (−2.42×10 −2 h) + 8.16×10 12 exp(−0.524 h), where α is in cm −3 s −1 and h is in kilometers. During a wide variety of phenomena, including polar cap absorption, sudden phase anomalies, solar proton events and solar flares, the expressions α = 652 exp(−0.234 h) (night) and α = 0.501 exp(−0.165 h) (day) are reasonably representative between 50 and 100 km. No values are available above 100 km. The above values are certainly not reliable to within a factor of 2, and in some cases not even to within an order of magnitude.