Abstract
IN view of the interest which is being shown by various investigators in the ionisation in the upper atmosphere, in particular with reference to the existence of several new regions which we pointed out in our communication of April 5 to NATURE (issue of June 3)1, we have thought it desirable to record the results of some of the more recent observations which we have made in this field2.
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Two interesting letters in the June 17 issue of NATURE, one by Prof. E. V. Appleton, and the other by Messrs. J. A. Hatcliffe and E. L. C. White, commented on this announcement and discussed similar or related results obtained in Great Britain. The results obtained by investigators at the Bureau of Standards have led them to conclusions similar to ours. Abstracts of their papers were published in the June issue of the Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
The material previously communicated was obtained during the winter months of 1932–1933. It was submitted in March of this year for presentation at the Fifth Pacific Science Congress and will soon be published in the Proceedings of that body.
This is in conformity with T. L. Eckersley's discussion on absorption in the F region as given in J. Inst. Elec. Eng., Vol. 71, September, 1932.
That meteors are an ionising agency in the ionosphere was suggested by A. M. Skellett, Proc. I.R.E., December 1932. Pulse experiments which give evidence of an ionising effect in the E region due to meteors have been conducted by J. P. Schafer and W. M. Goodall, Proc. I.R.E., December 1932 and Science, November 25, 1932.
Visual evidence that meteors sometimes leave glowing trains, presumably due to ionisation of gases, and that these trains are definitely restricted to the general level of the E region (70–100 km.) has been given by C. C. Trowbridge, Astrophysical Journal, 1907.
Further evidence that the general E region is particularly sensitive to external ionising agencies is given by Størmer, who has shown that there is a pronounced maximum in the number of visible auroræ at heights of the order of 90–100 km. Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, Vol. 35, No. 4, December 1930.
An effect of thunderstorms on the ionisation in the E region has been suggested by C. T. R. Wilson, Proc. Phys. Soc., 37, 32D; 1925. Appleton and Naismith, Proc. Phys. Soc., 5, 45, pp. 389, May 1933, and Ratcliffe and White, Proc. Phys. Soc., pp. 399, May 1933, have published data tending to support the thunderstorm theory.
Ivo Ranzi, NATURE, 130, 368, Sept. 3, 1932, and R. C. Colwell, Proc. I.R.E., May 1933, have found evidence of E region ionisation increases with corresponding changes in barometric pressure in the lower atmosphere.
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SCHAFER, J., GOODALL, W. Radio Studies of the Ionosphere. Nature 132, 521–522 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132521a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132521a0