VOL. 79, NO.

4 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH FEBRUARY 1, 1974

Long-Term Variations of Thermospheric

Temperature and Composition
D. ALCAYD
Centre d'Etude Spattale des Rayonnements
LaboratoireAssociau CentreNational de la RechercheScientifique,ToulouseCedex,France

P. BAUER

Centre National d'Etudesde Tdlcommunications,

RechercheSpattaleRadio4lectrique
Issy les Moulineaux, France

J. FONTANARI

Centre d'Etude Spattale des Rayonnements

LaboratoireAssociau CentreNational de la Recherche$cientifique,ToulouseCedex,France

Long-term variations of the thermosphericstructure in the altitude range 100 to 400 km

have been deducedfrom incoherentscatterobservations performedaboveSt Santin (France,
45N) in 1969-1970.This technique provides the following relevant information' the thermal
structure from 100 to 400 km; a parameter proportionalto the molecularnitrogen concentra-
tion around 100 km; a determination of the atomic oxygen concentrationbetween 200 and
400 km; and the ratio of the atomic oxygen concentrationto a weighted sum of the molecular
(N2, 02) speciesaround.200km. The last three parametersare determinedduring daytime.
Combining these data.,we find that (1) a seasonalchangein the compositionat 200 km
results from a seasonal change in the thermal structure between 100 and 200 km and from a
superimposedlower boundary equivalent to seasonalchangesin the atomic oxygen concen-
tration (winter to summerratio of 1.5) and in the molecular oxygen concentration(summer
to winter ratio of about 4); (2) these later variations are linked to the F2 winter anomaly
and support theoretical predictions and previous experimental work; (3) annual and semi-
annual variations of the thermal structure, combined with annual changes in the neutral
composition,result in a semiannual variation of the air density that is already well known
from satellite drag data.

In the past few years, improved observationsof ther-
mosphericand ionosphericproperties have made increas-
ingly clear the fact that simple static modelsbasedon fixed
lower boundary conditionsare not suited for an accurate
description,of the upper atmosphere;the different diurnal
behavior of the neutral temperature and densities[Bauer
et al., 1970; Swartz and Nisbet, 1971; Alcayd et al., 1971],
variations of the chemical composition in the F region
[Waldteufel, 1970a; Cox and Evans, 1970], the winter
anomaly of the F2 layer IRishbeth and Setty, 1961], are
someexamplesof the inconsistencies existingbetween'static
diffusivemodels'and the actual atmosphere.
in fact, many competingfactors,suchas photochemistry,
eddy diffusion,tides, and nondiffusiveequilibrium of minor
constituents,are likely to producea departure from static
diffusive equilibrium. It appears, however, that all these
processesare confined below about 200 km; above this
height diffusive equilibrium prevails, and the knowledge
of the thermal structure from 200 km upward, together
with the neutral speciesvariations at 200 km, for exam-
ple, is thereforesufficientto describethe upper atmosphere,
excludingthe hydrogen gas.
In view of this statement, the aim of this paper is to
presentand discusslong-term variations of the atomic and
molecular speciesreduced to 200 km altitude. The data
consist of measurementsof the atomic oxygen concentra-
tion and temperature above 200 km [Bauer et al., 1970],
Copyright @ 1974 by the American Geophysical Union.
629
of the ratio of atomic to molecular ion concentrations at
200 km [Waldteu[el, 1970a], of the molecularnitrogen con-
centration at 100 km [Waldteu[el, 1969], and of the ther-
mal structure between 100 and 200 km [Fo.ntanari, 1973];
all these data have been collected by incoherent scatter
observationsat St Santin Nanqa.yin France.
In the first part of the paper, the methodsused for ob-
taining the data are briefly discussed;the secondto fourth
parts describethe observedatmosphericparameter varia-
tions; these observationsare gathered in the conclusion
section.
I)ATA
Atomic oxygenco.ncentrationand temperature above 200
kin. Solvingthe heat balanceequationfor the ions in the
F2 region and assumingdiffusiveequilibrium for oxygen
in this regionallowsfor a determinationof a set of three
parameters: the exospherictemperature, a temperature
shapeparameter,and the oxygenconcentrationat an ar-
bitrary altitudein the rangeconsidered
[Baueret al., 1970].
Sincethe purposeof this paper is to identify variations
of the atmosphericconstituentsthat cannotbe simply in-
ducedby thermalexpansion, the oxygendata, evaluatedat
200 km, will be normalizedwith respectto an equivalent
Jacchia [1971a] model corresponding to the observed
exospherictemperatures.
The main uncertaintyin this comparison
comesfrom the
oxygendensitydetermination(obtainedwith an accuracy
6,30 ALCAYDI ET AL.' THERMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE AND COMPOSITION

of 15%) and from the exospherictemperature uncertainty Molecularnitrogenconcentration at 100 km. Dougherty
of about 2%. and Farley [1963] and Waldteu/el [19'69']have shownthat
Molecular concentratio,nat 200 kin. Up to 200 km the informationabout the molecularnitrogenconcentrationwas
incoherentscatter spectrum yields a determinationof the containedin the incoherentscatter signal at low altitude:
ratio p of the molecular ion concentrationto the electron the information is given by the narrowingof the scattered
concentration [Evans', 1967; Waldteu/el, 1970a]. In turn, spectrum due to the increasedcollisionrates letweenthe
by a proceduresimilar to the one usedby Evans and Cox ions and neutrals.
[1970], one can use this parameterto obtain the ratio. of The reason fo.r joining this information to the 200-km
the atomic oxygen concentrationto the weightedsum of observationis that, on the onehand,the molecularnitrogen
the molecularnitrogen and oxygenconcentrations. Indeed distribution remains unaffectedby chemistry,and, on the
the continuityequationfor the oxygenions can be written other hand, the molecular nitrogen being the major con-
as follows: stituent in the mixing region, no change in the vertical
distribution is to be expected between the mixing region
o{o+}
T-- o+
o = rr{O}- { }(T{02}
q-T2{N2})
(1)
and the diffusive region. It is therefore sufficientto know
the actual thermal structure of the 100- to 200-km region
where {0}, {0+}, {02}, and {N2} denotethe concentrations so as to deduce the molecular nitrogen concentration at
of the different constituents,a is the production rate co- 200 km from the one at 100 km.
efficient, is the atmospheric attenuationof the solarradia- There is some uncertainty about the absolute calibration
tions,. is the solarflux, and y and y are recombination of the nitrogen concentration determined by incoherent
coefficients of 0 + with 0 and Na scatter.However,the relative variations (which are of prime
importancein this study) are determinedwithin an accuracy
o+ + o + + smaller than 10%.

o+ + N + No + VARIATION OF TItE ATOMIC OXYGEN CONCENTRATION AT

200 KILOMETERS
Noting that. 1 -- p = {O+}/N, whereN, is the electron
concentration,and defining the molecular weighted sum Seasonal variations. Figure 1 shows the daytime ob-
{yg} by servationsof the oxygenconcentrationat 200 km obtained
at St Santin during the 1969-1970 period. The data have
{M2 = {02 +2N2 (2) been restrictedto solar zenith a.ngleX such that cosX >
oneobtainsthe {0} to {yM, ratio 0.1; large uncertaintiescorrespondingto sunriseand sunset
periodsare thus avoided.
{o} (1 - P)e Besidesthe scatter affectingeach individual day, a long-
--
term variation of the median valuesshowsup clearly, char-
At 2 , 1 -- p is not very far from 1, and the typical acterizedby a wide maximumin winter and a minimumin
uncertainty of the p parameter is 0.1, i.e., a 10% uncer- summer.In order to. separatethe thermal expansionef-
tainty in the determinationof 1 - p, and the error on N, fectsfrom thosewhichimply changes in the lowerboundary
is very small (lessthan 1'%); the typicaluncertaintyin the conditions,Figure 2 showsthe variation of the ratio R of
{yM, evaluationis thereforeof the order of 25% when the estimated {0}2ooto the similar quantity provided by
the previousway of determining{0} is usedand the other the Jacchia [1971a] model for the simultaneouslyobserved
parametersare assumedto be known. exospherictemperature.

[0]200
'1010
cm-3
1.75 -

1.50 -
[O] 200kin

1.25 -

1.0C -

?.5 --

50 --

25 --

WINTER SPRING SUM MER AUTUMN WINTER SPRING SUMMER AUTUMN

1969 1970
Fig. 1. Atomicoxygennumberdensityobserved
at 200km for the 1969-1970
period;continuous
linehasbeen
drawn between individual 'median points' for convenience.
 ALCAYD]
ET AL.' THERMOSPHERIC
TEMPERATURE
AND COMPOSITION 631

- Median values
It
EXP. Least squar'e [it

[[O]jclxp 200 Km

:3.0-

2..5-

2.0- I

1.
I
:

. . .
ee

.

. I t * ; , . . '.
1.0
....



I =
e

: i
*




"i

I . 1
.
; . :
.,_
=. i
..5 i I t i I I I
.: , : .
, EQU. SOL.
' EQU, SOL. E. : SOL;' ' EQU /
I i i i I if' I ' I
WINTER SPRING SUNHER TUHN WINTER SPRING SUNHER AUTUHN
1969 1970
Fi. 2. ame a Figure 1 bu for normalized oxygen number densW. The dashed
quare in erm of annual and emiannua]

The seasonaltrend has been sorted out by least square
fitting of annual, semiannual,and steady components:
- 0./1 + 0.1 co [/(- 4)]
-]- 0.08 cos[4r/365(d -- 114)]]
where d is the day number. It is remarkable that the ratio
is closeto 1, on the average, and therefore no basic dis-
agreementexistsbetween this determination of the oxygen
concentrationand the one proposedby the Jacchia [1971a]
model.
The. semiannual and annual componentscorrespond to
maximumsaround the equino.xes, absoluteminimum at the
summer solstice, and a relative minimum at the winter
solstice.
Comparisonsof these data with the theoretical model
developedby Mayr and Volland [1972a] show a qualitative
agreement for the annual component.However, the am-
plitude of the annual componentis about three times larger
than the one of this work; as for the semiannualcom-
ponent, there is disagreementboth in phase and in ampli-
A correlation analysis was performed between the in-
stantaneous10.7-cm solar flux and the normalized oxygen
concentration at 200 km. No significant correlation was
found.
The correlationwith geomagneticactivity index Kp was
found to be marginally significant with an optimal time
delay of 3 to 9 hours.The trend corresponds clearly to a
decreasein the observed oxygen concentrationwith in-
creasingmagneticactivity; a decrease of about 20% is ob-
servedin Figure 3 for Kp varying between0 and 7, whereas
the Jacchia [1971a] model predicts,in the sameKp range,
an increaseby about 20%.
Preliminaryconclusions.In the abovedescriptionof the
oxygendata, two main featureshave been isolated: (1) a
seasonalvariation (if not an annual one), which would be
I I I I I I I I I I ! I I I ! I I I I I I' I IJACCHIA
I I (1971)
III
Log
[0]200) (T(Kp=O):900

-
tude; indeed, the model gives a smaller amplitude at 45
(about 3 times smaller) and indicatesa minimum at equinox
which is the oppositeof the presentobservations.
The inference, then, is that fixed boundary conditions
at somelevel near the base of the thermosphere,a tem-
perature profile of the type proposedby the model in the
100- to 200-km region, and diffusiveequilibrium cannot ex-
plain the observedoxygen concentrationsand that equiva-
lent seasonalchangesin boundary conditionshave to be
introduced.
Variation o/ geomagneticand solar origin. Figure 2 re-
9'
60 QUA
FIT
veals a larger scatter than can be accountedfor by the sta-
tistical errors. The first source of the scattering is the
diurnal variability, describedin an earlier paper by Alcayd
9'55
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I[III!I

0+-1 +- 2+-3+- 4 +-5+-6+-7+-8+ Kp

et al. [1972]; solar and geomagneticactivities are other Fig. 3. Variation of atomic oxygennumber density with Kp
possiblesourcesof variation. as comparedwith the predictionof the Jacchia[1971a]model.
632 A,c!q)i ET ,,.' TUEaMOSrSRXC
TsMrsR,?ws ,D CorosxTxo

consistentwith the circulationmechanismproposedby John- The observed variation, in qualitative agreement with
to.whichthe light gases earlier studies conductedby Cox and Evans [1970] an(]
sonandGottlieb[i970], according
(oxygen,helium) are carriedfrom the summerto the win- Waldteu[el [1970a, b], exhibits a maximum centered on
ter hemisphere;and (2) a variation of the concentration winter and a minimum in summer,with an annual varia-
with the Kp index, also compatiblewith the circulation tion given by
mechanismof Jhnson and Gottlieb [1970], which would
tend to reversewhen the auroral regionsare heated dur- logo(r) - 3.785 -]- 0.35 cos
ingmagnetically
disturbed
periods.
Some
confirmations
of
this hypothesis
havebeenevidenced
by Reddy [1972], and leading to a maximum to minimum ratio of 5.
by theinterpre,tation
of theog06 neutral
mass
spectrom- As in the caseof the oxygenconcentrationalone,a large
eter data obtainedduringmagneticstorms[Mayr and Vol- scatter of the points is apparent in the hour to hour varia-
land, 1972b; Tach e,t al., 197!]. tion, which cannot be accountedfor by the statisticalerror.
These features will be further discussedwhen the ther- Although the seasonalariation is in phasewith the one
mal structureof the 100-20 km is investigatedbelow. observedon the atomic oxygen concentration,there is a
significant amplitude difference between the two.
Cor0so CAss A 200 In a simple way it has just been shownthat the F' win-
Use of (3) allowsfor a determination
of the ratio ter anomalywas the result of a larger changein the
),M) of the atomicoxygenconcentration to the weighted molecular than in the atomic oxygen concentrationat 200
sum of the molecular oxygen and nitrogen concentrations km. However,it shouldnot be forgottenthat, as Rishbeth
at 200 km. While (1 - p) and Ne are taken from the in- and Setty [1961] pointed out, in order to explain the F
coherentscatterdata, fi (the attenuationof the solarflux) winter anomaly, one should refer to observationat fixed
is obtained through a computerprogram developedby pressurelevels rather than at fixed heights.The next step
G. Lejeune(privatecommunication, 1972)by usingthe pro- in the present study is therefore to get more information
cedure establishedby Dalgarno et al. [1967]; this com- on the thermal structure of the lower F region and on the
putationtakesintoaccount
thelong-term
variations
of moleculardistribution,in order to separateapparent com-
mentioned earlier. q, is supposedto vary as the 10.7-cm positionchargesdue to thermal expansionfrom changes
flux, and a is kept constant.As opticaldepthsof O and linkedto physical
anddynamical
processes.
N are small, comparedto that of O, absorptiondue to
MOLECULAR NITROGEN DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN 100 AND
O and N has been computedusing the Jacchia [1971a]
200 KILOMETERS
model and the measured exospherictemperatures.
Figure4 showsthe variationof r (the ratio Nitrogen concentrationat 100 km. The analysisof col-
versus time for the years 1969-1970. lisionalspectra initiated by Waldteufel [1969] for 1967-

(1-P)Ne
F10.7'
- -- Median values -
5
/. - Leas! squar'e fi ! _
3

,%' , : , * /
1 : . :. . : : '. _
* \\ * __
!k
:
,:x . ' :
. :
,_. ''
. .' :,/! : --
.' x : -. : :. : -
. \ ' . . . N: . '
o . \' . . . : . . --
- . ! :./ : .: : :z. . _
' ' ' / x:': :i ' '
, , , , ** * , , ,
_.,
, ,

**

EQU SOL EQU SOL EQU SOL. 'EQU SOL

103 ! I I I I I ' ! I
WINTERSPRINGSUMMER AUTUMN WINTER$F)RIN$UMMERAUTUIN
1969 1970
Fig. 4. Variation of the {O}/{,M} ratio in 1969and 1970.The dashedline corresponds
to the leastsquaresfit
to an annual component.
 ALCAYDET AL.' THERMOSPHERIC
TEMPERATURE
AND COMPOSITION 633

N21100
1013c
rn
-3 Isca
ttering
IN2]100km

-'J'l
--'"'i"%T-
' ,T.,T._L-
.
-,,'T
......
'..... ---- 4 TTT
' iT,z'
T ,'T
I I I I I I i I I I I I I I I i I I i i
J F M A M J J A $ 0 N D J F M A M J J A $ 0 N
1969 1970 1971
Molecularnitrogennumberdensityobservedat 100 km for the 1969-1970period.

1968 Waspursuedduring 1969-1970 (Figure 5 showsthe very significantseasonalvariation is thus containedin the
results of such observations).A significantdiurnal varia- thermal structure.

tion, discussedearlier by Waldteuel [1969, 1970b], ap- The effects on the concentrations will therefore be two-
pearson the diagramasscattering of the data on individual fold: on the one hand, irrespectiveof the period consid-
days;the othersignificantfeatureis a slightseasonalvaria- ered, the higher experimentaltemperatures,in the 100-
tion characterizedby a weakmaximumin localwinter and to 200-km region,imply a slower decreaseof the concen-
a maximum to minimum ratio of the order of 1.3. This trations with respectto height; on the other hand, the
variation is consistent with the one observed previously seasonal changein the temperatureprofilebetween100 and
in 1967-1968by Waldteufel[1970b], althoughthe maxi- 200 km is to be reflected in a seasonalchange in the con-
mum of the 1969-1970 winter seemsparticularly weak. centrations,in additionto the one simply due to changes
This smallseasonal variahonis oppositethe oneneeded in the exospherictemperature.
to explainthe variationobservedfor the moleculars
at 200 Vertical distributiono/the atmo.spheric constituents. Fig-
km and in any caseis of a smalleramplitude.Therefore, ure 7 gives the altitude profilesof the differentconstituents
if the behaviorof the weightedsum of the molecularsat normalized to the Jacchia [1971a] model values; the
200 km reflects a similar variation for N2 at that height, molecular nitrogen concentration,in mixing or diffusive
onlyseasonal of the thermalstructurein the 100- equilibrium,has been deducedfrom the 100-km concen-
variations
to 200-kmregionare able to bring a consistency in the tration and the thermal structure; the atomic oxygen con-
picture.
Thermal structure. The thermal structure in the 100- to
! [ I I I I
200-km regionappearsto be quite complexand must be Altitude
describedin terms of propagatingtides [Wand, 1969; km

Bernardand Spizzichino, 1971; Amayencand Reddy,1972; 340 --

Salahand Evans, 1972; Wad, 1972]. Fontanariand A1-

Corresponding
cayd [1974], usingthe data yieldedby the 5 parameter PERIQDS Ezospheric
Temp.
analysisof the incoherent scatterspectrumin the F region 300 --
-- --' [Winter 1060K
(i.e., electronand ion temperatures,Ne, p, and one com- :Summer 1130 K

ponentof the ion drift), have analyzedthe ion tempera- I/ ....... Equinoxes 11,50 K

ture (equalto the neutraltemperature

in thisheightrange)
in terms of steady components and propagatingdiurnal 260 --
l!
and semidiurnaloscillations;for the purposeof seasonal
changes,the resultspresente.d
here deal only with the
diurnallyaveragedtemperatureprofilesaccordingto the 220 --
,

threewinter,summer,and equinoxperiods.Figure6 shows

the differencebetweenthe averagedexperimentaltempera-
tureprofiles
andtheJacchia
(1971a]modelones
.obtaihed -
for identical exospherictemperatures.
If one looks at temperature gradients,one has to define
180 --

"x,. -
three different regions: from 100 to 140 km the tempera-
ture gradients
are greaterthanJacchia's;
from140to 220 140 --

km the model gradientsare greater than those observed;

and from 220 km to the exospherethe gradients are of the
--.

same order of magnitude. 10C

Otherwiseit is noticeablethat, except for winter, which -60 -20 0 20 60 100 AT(K)

yields a lower exospherictemperature,the global features Fig. 6. Observedtemperaturedeviation from the Jacchia
are mostly differentby the shapeof the profile rather than [1971a] model versus height, with identical exospheric tem-
by changes in the exosphericor turbopausetemperatures. A peratures.
634 ALcA ,T .'
I ! rl I I I '1 I I I I I
ALTITUDI
SUMMER WINTER
(KM) I
380
340
300 L-
260 -
220-
? 'N2.O2102 .0J@
N2
1BI - ; .......
140 -
ji / .."
, ,/,,, .:i'i',..,
..... , , ,, ,....
,,,,
.6 .lB1. 1.5 2. 3.'./ .6 .8 1. 1.5 2. 3 .4
RATIOSOF'HEASURED
CONSTITUANTS"
TO JACCHIAVALUES
Fig. 7. Ratios of the observednumber and mass densities
to the ones of Jacchia [1971a] models for various exospheric
temperaturescorrespondingto three typical seasons(T _--
1130K in summer' T -- 1060K in winter' T -- 1150K at
equinoxes).Solid lines are for ma.ssdensities,dashedlines for
{N, da.sh-dotlines for {O, and dotted lines for {O.
centrations,in diffusiveequilibrium,take into. accountthe
seasonalvariations at 200 km; the {O} behavior will be
discussedin the next section. The Jacchia [1971] model
has been taken with the relevant exospherictemperature
determinedby incoherentscatter (such a procedureis justi-
fied by the fact that on the averagea good agreementof
the model and experimental exospheric temperatures is
observed[Alcayd et al., 1972]).
The {N) profiles which are characterizedby essen-
tially constantlower boundary values exhibit clearly the
effect of the temperatureprofile changes,i.e., a slowerde-
creaseof the concentrationwith respectto height than the
one of the model and larger seasonalvariationsthan those
resulting from changesin the exospherictemperature.
The {O) profilesshowthat an equivalentchangein lower
boundary values with larger values in winter than in sum-
mer (ratio of 1.5 at 100 km) is needed in order to more
than compensateat 200 km for the seasonalvariation ex-
pected on the basis of the changingtemperature profile.
The last feature to be consideredis the total massdensity
p. It is in generalin better agreementwith the model as
shown in Figure 7. This is an important point, since the
Jacchia [1971a] model relies essentially upon mass den-
sity data. The well-definedsemiannualeffect presentabove
150 km cannot be simply taken into accountby the semi-
annual exospherictemperature variations.
Figure 8 showsthe observedequinoxto solstices(winter
and summer) massdensity ratios versusaltitude. For com-
parison similar quantities obtained through the use of a
static diffusive model for the observed solstice and equinox boundarychanges,
exospherictemperatures have also been plotted.
The main feature is that the observed quantities show according
a trend for a semiannualvariation,sincethe two correspond-
ing equinoxto winter and equinoxto summer ratios tend
to have the samemagnitudeover the whole altitude range.
The model values, which only reflect changes in the
exospherictemperatures,do not exhibit the same trend.
This impliesthat the observedsemiannualvariation is far
from being simply carried by semiannualexospherictem-
T,RMOSrH,RICT,Mr,R^TU, ^D Corosmo
I I I I I perature variations and that it is mostly due to combined
EQUINOXES
changesin temperature profile in the 100- to 200-km alti-
tude range and in lower boundary atomic oxygen concen-
trations.
Synthesiso/ the observedvariations'at 200 kin. Figure
9 showsthe resultingvariation of {N at 200 km from
both the observed concentration at 100 km and the tem-
perature profile.
This variation is of the type neededto explainthe
yM seasonaltrend. However, adding the variationsof
{O} and {N (includingthe thermal expansioneffect)
is not enoughto.reproduce the observed{O}./{yM} varia-
tion. Of the 5 to 1 changefrom winter to summer,about
3 parts are still to be explained.
y
Changesin {O havethereforeto be identifiedin order
I , I/'r....I....I,,
to get a consistent picture.Larger {O concentrations in
.6 .8 1. 1.5 2.
summer than in winter are needed; such a trend agrees
with the conclusionsof recent works conductedby Roble
and Norton [1972], Noxon and Johaason [1972], and
Scialo.m [ 19'73].
The amplitudeof the effectcan be estimatedafter the
followingremarks: in a recent work dealingwith the
molecular ions in the F layer Rishbeth et al. [1972] con-
cludedthat a balancebetweenproductionand lossof O ions
could be reachedon the basis of a February 1969 rocket
flightand of the Jacchia[1971a]model.In that casethe
charge exchangeprocessbetweenO*, O,andN wasequally
sharedby the twomolecular constituents.
However,nosuch
balance could be reached for other rocket flights coveting
the springandsummerperiods;in all casesthe production
of O throughchargeexchange
betweenO* and O was a
factor of 2 to 10 smallerthan the loss.An increaseof
in summerwouldhave improvedthe balancein theselater
cases.
On the grounds of the February1969rocketdata,we
can deducethat {7M,} is equallysharedbetween7{0,}
and7{N}at thattime.Asa consequence, takingthemodel
valuefor {0} at 200km for the Februaryperiod(0.25 X
10 cm-), it is possibleto estimatethe seasonal
change
in {O} needed to account for the observed
variations
of
{O}/{7M}. The resultsare the ratiosof the proposed
{O} to the modelvalueat 200km and 100km, assuming
diffusiveequilibriumand makinguseof the observed tem-
peratureprofilesat 100 km.
Summer: 200 km, 2.5; 100 km, 1.3.
Winter: 200 km, 0.40; 100 km, 0.30.
Equinox: 200 km, 1.4; 100 km, 0.90.
It must be understood that such equivalent boundary
changes wouldcorrespond to real changesonlyif diffusive
equilibriumprevailedoverthe altituderangeconsidered.
While these changesin {O} might imply real lower
it is worth mentioninga suggestionre-
centlymade by U. Von Zahn (privatecommunication,1973),
to whichlocalchanges near200 km in the O
concentrationsmight simply be linked to the dissociative
recombination which representsan important loss process
for O at this height. Indeed
0 + + 0-->0 + + 0
02 + --I--e'->O-I'- 0
 ALcAq) sT AL.' THERMOSPHERICTEMPEITURE AND COMPOSITION 635

ALTITUDE

(krn)
t.

t.

,&
4.

4,00 +

t.
+

+ '&
A
+

300
t.
+ A

&
+
+

+
Corresp. exospheric Corr. Jacchia
4.
Proposed
model Periods Temp.
varialiation
1971)
ratio
+ ' Equi./Summe
AT.. :20 K '1'
200
- Equi./Winler AT..---90 K A ,.,

+
+
+

lOO
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 R
Fig. 8. Equinoxto solstice massdensityratioRmasa functionof altitude.Rmis drawnin continuousdottedlines
for the total observed
density,respectively,
for the equinoxto summerandequinoxto winterratios.Symbolsshow
the altitudedependence of R computedby usinga staticdiffusivemodelwith temperaturevariationsof 20K (plus
signscorrespond to an equinoxto summervariation) and of 90K (trianglescorrespond to an equinoxto winter
variation).

Replenishingthe Os thus lost necessitatesvertical 0s fluxes actual variationsof {02} at 100 km. In turn, this wouldnot'
correspondingto vertical velocity of the order of 10 cm changesensitivelythe conclusions aboutthe role playedby
sec- at 200 km. O2in the winter anomaly.
Therefore the winter F regionanomaly can be explained Temperatureprofile. The temperatureprofilesdiffer in
by equivalentlower boundarychangesin {0} and {0s} two ways from the one of the model; first, on the average,
between winter and summer of, respectively,3/2 and 1 ,/4
or, more precisely,by suchchangesat constantNs pressure N2]
200
level in the neighborhoodof 200 km. 109cm-3
If the seasonalchangesof Os} reflect actual boundary 7.

changes at 100km, the conclusionsaboutthe Ns} variations

are slightly affected, since the contributionsof 0s in the
ion-neutral collisionfrequency around 100 km are of the
order of 30% in summerand only 5% in winter, thus en-
ha.ncingthe N2} winter to summer variation at 100 km
from 1.2 to 1.5.

CONCLUSIONS

Molecular nitrogen. A model based on an Ns number [] 00kn

density at 100 km fixed at the value given by the Jacchia
[1971a] model is in approximateagreementwith the data Ill] Illill III IllIll !] ill III1
J FMAMJJ A 5ON DJ FMAMJJ A SONDJ FMA
describedhere. A weak annual effect is present, however, 1969 1970

with winter (January) N2 number densitiesabout 20% Fig. 9. Molecular nitrogen number density at 200 km as
higher than the equinoxesand the summer densities.As given by the observeddensitiesof Figure 5 and the observed
pointedout earlier, this annual effectmust be increasedto temperatureprofiles.The continuousline is the annual varia-
50% if the variations of {02} at 200 km correspondto tion averaged over 1969 and 1970.
636 ALCAYDI ET AL.' TItERMOSPItERIC TEMPERATURE AND COMPOSITION

they correspondto a smaller decreasein the concentrations

with respect to altitude than the one given by the model; The Editor thanks J. V. Evans and R. I-I. Wand for their
second,they show strong semiannualand seasonalvaria- assistancein evaluating this paper.
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1400 hour
(Received April 9, 1973;
accepted October 11, 1973.)