Auroral ionospheric and thermospheric measurements using the incoherent scatter technique

The incoherent scatter technique has been applied since 1965 to study the ionosphere and thermosphere in different regions of the Earth. The analysis of the received signal gives access to several ionospheric parameters as a function of height: electron density, electron and ion temperatures and ion velocity. The derivation of these parameters is usually a complicated mathematical procedure that requires a non-linear regression program. A lot of research has been done in the ionospheric and atmospheric science using this technique.In this paper we describe how one derives the ion-neutral collision frequency and the ion composition parameters. It is usually difficult to retrieve these parameters with the incoherent scatter technique; as a result, in the standard data analysis procedure, an ionospheric model is used instead. However the numerical values chosen in the model have an influence on the other derived parameters. For instance the choice of a wrong ion composition leads to erroneous plasma temperatures. It is therefore important to assess by how much the standard procedure deviates from reality. For this reason we compare the ion composition and collision frequency retrieved from a sophisticated analysis scheme with the values that are derived from models under similar geophysical conditions.It also possible to derive from the observed ionospheric parameters the neutral concentrations, temperatures and winds, by using the energy and momentum equations for the ions and the neutrals. In this paper the different methods and the corresponding assumptions involved in the data analysis are discussed. We describe the influence of the frictional heating, of the vertical neutral wind and of the ionospheric perturbations on the derivation of the neutral atmospheric parameters. Our discussion of the processes involved are drawn from results obtained by Chatanika, Sondrestrom and EISCAT radars.