An ion‐trap measurement of the ion concentration profile above the F 2 peak

An ion trap with plane parallel geometry was flown on a Javelin rocket to an altitude of 1000 km above Wallops Island, Virginia, at 8:44 P.M. local time on November 9, 1960. The ion concentration was measured from 240 to above 700 km; above 350 km the concentration profile can be well represented by a hydrostatic distribution of ions of mass 16 with a constant temperature of approximately 1240°K.