Abstract
RECENTLY, D. F. Martyn1 has suggested that electric currents in the D-layer of the ionosphere must make a contribution to the solar and lunar geomagnetic variations roughly equal to that of the E- and F-layers. Since theoretical work on atmospheric tides suggests that the tidal motions tend to increase with height, the electric forces causing the currents can scarcely be greater in the D-layer than in the E- and F-layers. Hence Martyn's suggestion implies that the integral conductivity of the D-layer must be at least as big as that of the E- and F-layers combined. This appears to us to be improbable.
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References
Martyn, Nature, 160, 535 (1947).
Cowling, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 183, 453 (1945).
Massey and Bates, Rep. Prog. Phys., 8, 62 (1942).
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COWLING, T., BORGER, R. Electrical Conductivity of the Ionospheric D-Layer. Nature 161, 515 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161515a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161515a0
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