A Study of Water Vapor, Electrical Parameters, and Radio Propagation

Abstract : This has been an extended study of water vapor distributions in the middle atmosphere and their interaction with the D-region ionosphere. Water vapor measurements have been conducted using ground-based microwave radiometry- spectroscopy both in the solar absorption and thermal emission modes. Radio-wave absorption observations, were used to characterize the lower ionosphere. We were unable to establish a clear role for water vapor and large (H2O) cluster ions in D-region chemistry. The water vapor measurements are a unique data set and have been used to examine the vertical and seasonal structure of mesospheric H2O, ozone chemistry, noctilucent clouds, and atmospheric circulation issues.