Models of electron temperature in the topside ionosphere for low and medium solar activity conditions

Abstract

Electron temperature models for the topside ionosphere, which make use of the protonospheric heat flux Φ_C , deduced from the experimental electron temperature profiles, are presented for low ( F ¯ 10.7 = 75 units ) as well as medium ( F ¯ 10.7 = 150 units ) solar activity conditions. The parameter Φ_C is found to show inverse correlation with electron concentration N_e in the topside ionopshere. This relationship between N_e and Φ_C at 400 km is used to obtain Φ_C when N_e is known. The value of ΦC can be used to build the electron temperature profile in the topside ionosphere if T_e at some lower height is known. The T_e value at a lower height, say at 300 km, can be obtained from earlier models based upon empirical T_e-N_e relationships. The electron temperature obtained from our present models are compared with the measured temperatures and are found to show reasonable agreement.