PROPERTIES OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE BETWEEN 90 AND 300 KM,

Abstract

Recent results of upper atmosphere physics which have come out of experimental and theoretical studies of high altitude research are presented. The region of investigation covers the height between 90 and 300 km and thus includes the ionosphere. The study is based primarily on a new model of the atmosphere derived from rocket observations, as well as on the Chapman theory of ionized layer formation. Some of the simplifying assumptions, usually made in evaluating this theory, have been eliminated. As a result, a picture of the ionosphere was obtained which agrees rather well with the experimental results obtained by means of rockets. These results show that the ionosphere does not consist of ionized layers but rather of continuously densely ionized regions. They furthermore show that the true height of reflection of radio waves is considerably lower than the apparent height. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 16, 1957
Accession Number
AD0606269

Entities

People

  • H. K. Kallmann

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Atmospheres
  • High Altitude
  • Ionosphere
  • Observation
  • Physics
  • Radio Waves
  • Reflection

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.