Relative abundance of H⁺ and He⁺ in the outer ionosphere

Abstract

A mathematical model is used to study the relative abundance of H⁺ and He⁺ ions in the topside ionosphere. It is found that the daytime light-ion densities are strongly coupled with the neutral densities. This fact arises difficulties in modelling the ion composition for IRI without taking into account any particular reference atmosphere. As an example, the transition heights between O⁺-H⁺ and O⁺-He⁺ are shown, plotted against the neutral densities. The supposed linear dependance gives a clear evidence that all light-ion ionization below these heights will experience stronger influence by the neutral atmosphere.