Aeronomy

Aeronomy is the scientific study of the upper atmosphere of the Earth and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets. It is a branch of both atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics. Scientists specializing in aeronomy, known as aeronomers, study the motions and chemical composition and properties of the Earth's upper atmosphere and regions of the atmospheres of other planets that correspond to it, as well as the interaction between upper atmospheres and the space environment. In atmospheric regions aeronomers study, chemical dissociation and ionization are important phenomena. The mathematician Sydney Chapman introduced the term aeronomy to describe the study of the Earth's upper atmosphere in 1946 in a letter to the editor of Nature entitled "Some Thoughts on Nomenclature." The term became official in 1954 when the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics adopted it. "Aeronomy" later also began to refer to the study of the corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets. Aeronomy can be divided into three main branches: terrestrial aeronomy, planetary aeronomy, and comparative aeronomy. Terrestrial aeronomy focuses on the Earth's upper atmosphere, which extends from the stratopause to the atmosphere's boundary with outer space and is defined as consisting of the mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere and their ionized component, the ionosphere. Terrestrial aeronomy contrasts with meteorology, which is the scientific study of the Earth's lower atmosphere, defined as the troposphere and stratosphere. Although terrestrial aeronomy and meteorology once were completely separate fields of scientific study, cooperation between terrestrial aeronomers and meteorologists has grown as discoveries made since the early 1990s have demonstrated that the upper and lower atmospheres have an impact on one another's physics, chemistry, and biology. Terrestrial aeronomers study atmospheric tides and upper-atmospheric lightning discharges such as red sprites, sprite halos, blue jets, and ELVES.