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Theoretical Study Of Anomalously High F Region Peak Altitudes In The Polar Ionosphere, Jan Josef Sojka, Robert W. Schunk

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During the last solar maximum period several observations of anomalously high F region peak altitudes have been made by the high latitude incoherent scatter radars. The observations indicate that there are several distinctive features associated with these high h_mF₂ ionospheric profiles: (1) they are observed near midnight with the plasma flowing out of the polar cap, (2) N_mF₂ ranges from 105 to 106 cm−3, (3) h_mF₂ ranges from 400 to 500 km, (4) below 300 km the profile is devoid of ionization, and (5) the observations are for solar maximum conditions. …