Modeled Ionospheric Te Profiles at Mid-Latitudes for Possible IRI Application

Authors

Jan Josef Sojka, Utah State UniversityFollow
Robert W. Schunk, Utah State UniversityFollow
M. D. Bowline, Utah State University

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Advances in Space Research

Volume

7

Issue

6

Publication Date

1987

First Page

107

Last Page

110

Abstract

The electron temperature (Te) variation in the mid-latitude ionosphere at altitudes between 120 – 800 km has been modelled for various seasonal and solar-cycle conditions. The calculated electron temperatures are consistent with plasma densities and ion temperatures computed from a time-dependent ionospheric model. The Te distribution can be represented by a subset of standard Te profiles. Te above 200 km is controlled by the magnetospheric heat flux into the ionosphere. For realistic values of the magnetospheric heat flux, the maximum electron temperature ranges from 3000 to 10,000 K at 800 km. The effect of increasing the heat flux is to increase the topside temperature but retain the profile shape. Hence, given a topside Te observation and selection of an appropriate profile shape, the entire Te distribution can be computed.

Comments

Originally published by Elsevier. Publisher’s PDF available through remote link. Subscription is required.

Recommended Citation

Sojka, J. J., R. W. Schunk, and M. D. Bowline, Modeled ionospheric Te profiles at mid-latitudes for possible IRI application, Adv. Space Res., 7, 107–110, 1987.

https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-1177(87)90282-1