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.

==History== 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.