Use of the incoherent scatter technique to obtain ionospheric temperatures

If the ion-electron gas is in diffusive equilibrium on the topside of the F layer, then the electron density decreases exponentially with height, and its logarithmic decrement is proportional to the neutral gas temperature. From an electron density profile obtained by the scatter radar technique, it is shown that this interpretation is consistent. Moreover, the deduction of ionospheric temperatures in this way from scatter radar electron density profiles has several advantages over other methods.