Solar corpuscular activity and ionization density in the F2 layer of the ionosphere

It is suggested that the ionization in the F2 region of the ionosphere is composed of contributions due to electromagnetic ultraviolet and corpuscular radiations from the sun. These two components of solar energy can be represented by sunspot and geomagnetic activity. When contributions from both these components are taken into account, the monthly mean value of the averaged diurnal characteristics of f0F2 is seen to follow fairly closely the combined effect of sunspot and geomagnetic activity, and the so-called "saturation effects" in the F2 region well nigh disappear. The monthly mean value of the diurnal average of f0F2 (Σf0F2) is seen to vary according to the expression √R+100×Ci throughout the solar cycle. In this expression R and Ci represent the monthly relative sunspot number and the international character figure for geomagnetic activity respectively.