Research on artificial airglow during ionospheric modification by the release of SF₆ gas

Release of a chemically reactive gas such as SF₆ into the ionosphere region can disturb its plasma environment. In this paper, in terms of diffusion equation of SF₆ gas and mainly ion-chemistry reactions in ionosphere region, the density changes of ionospheric particles response to the release of SF₆ gas are investigated, and the airglow volume emission rates and intensity from the SF₆ gas released at ionospheric altitudes are calculated. The results show that the diffusion of released SF₆ gas in ionospheric is very quick, and these SF₆ gas molecules can cause a large scale depletion of ionospheric electron and O⁺ density, and the dominate negative ion of ionospheric region is converted into SF₅^-. During the releasing, the 777.4nm and 135.6nm airglows will be excited, the intensity of 777.4nm is much weaker, and the ionospheric temperature may play an important role in the airglow intensity. Comparing the results of our calculations with American IMS/SF₆ experimental data, it shows good agreement, and the temperature of experiment local ionosphere can be exactly estimated through this comparison.