Abstract
THERE are three layers in the upper atmosphere in which dissociation is produced by the absorption of solar radiation. These are the layer of ozone, with its maximum concentration at about 50 km., and the two ionised layers at about 100 km. and 220 km. The absorption of solar radiation of any kind in a gas of which the density varies exponentially with height h(ae-h/H) has a definite distribution relative to the level of maximum absorption; this distribution depends only on H. It is shown that the main regions of absorption associated with the three layers are well separated, though the dissociation of molecular oxygen which results in the formation of the ozone layer has an important influence on the whole of the overlying atmosphere, in which atomic oxygen is a permanent constituent, its concentration increasing with height. The concentration of ozone, on the other hand, must decrease with height-above a certain level, a conclusion which bears on the maintenance of a high temperature in the upper atmosphere.
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Abstract of the Bakerlan Lecture delivered before the Royal Society on June 25, by Prof. S. Chapman, F.R.S.
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Some Phenomena of the Upper Atmosphere. Nature 128, 464–465 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128464b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128464b0