International Reference Ionosphere, IRI 79

"This report is the second edition of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) succeeding the first one, IRI 1978, and edited by the International Scientific Radio union (URSI). It has been prepared by the Steering Committee (St. C.) on the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) established by URSI and COSPAR with, at present, the following members: S.A. Bowhill, K.S.W. Champion, A.D. Danilov (v. chmn.), K. Rawer (chmn.), M.J. Rycroft, and J. Taubenheim. The aim of the IRI is to establish a summary compendium of height profiles through the ionosphere for the four main plasma parameters, namely; plasma density, plasma temperatures of electrons and ions, and ion composition. These parameters are generated from a descriptive model containing reliable data that can be extracted and used to obtain average profiles. The IRI-generated parameters compare well with COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA) values (last edition CIRA 1972). Basic material was contributed to our work by many colleagues. In addition to the members mentioned above, material was contributed by : P. Bauer (France), K.I. Maeda (Japan), S. Gnanalingam (Sri Lanka), H.G. Booker, J. Evans, J. V. Lincoln, H.A. Taylor (USA), E. Kazimirovskyj, and T.N. Soboleva (USSR)"--Introduction.