A representation of Jacchia's thermospheric models in spherical harmonic functions

The Jacchia models are represented in terms of spherical harmonic functions. This representation has the advantage of ease of comparison with other global theoretical and empiric models that use this mathematical form. Furthermore it is analytic, continuous and has continuous derivatives all over the globe. The representation of the exospheric temperatures shows clearly the amplitudes of the various periodic terms and uses relatively few constants. An example of a similar representation for the total mass density at a particular height and level of solar activity is given as well.