The Behaviour of a Chapman Layer in the Night F2 Region of the Ionosphere, Under the Influence of Gravity, Diffusion, and Attachment

Abstract

It is shown that, in the presence of diffusion, gravity, and attachment, a Chapman layer, no matter what its height, maintains its shape, decaying uniformly with an effective attachment coefficient equal to the true attachment coefficient at the height of the electron density maximum; and that, at the same time, the layer drifts bodily towards an equilibrium height.