An experimental and theoretical study of the D-region. II. A semi-empirical model for mid-latitude D-region

Abstract

In this the second part of a series of papers on the experimental and theoretical studies of the D-region, a semi-empirical effort is made to construct profiles of electron density, positive ion density and positive and negative ion composition for mid-latitude summer daytime for moderate solar activity period. Several specific constraints are defined in terms of current experimental data which the models have to satisfy. The basis of the model building is the six-ion chemical scheme originally proposed by Mitra and Rowe (1972) to explain changes in mesospheric chemistry during solar flares; the key parameters of the six-ion scheme are adjusted against the observational constraints. The resulting distributions of electron density, of positive ions, of the negative to electron ratio λ and of positive ion composition are given. It has been possible to achieve reasonable agreement with observational data excepting for the heights above 90 km.