ION BALANCE EQUATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Cosmic rays are the main source of ions in the atmosphere at altitudes of 5-35 km. The flux of cosmic rays in the atmosphere depends on the site of observation and is controlled by the geomagnetic field. Except for the rare cases of solar proton events and Forbush decreases, cosm ic ray flux varies slowly with changes of solar activity level. Thus t here is quasi-stationary equilibrium between the ion production and re combination processes. Usually, the equation q = alpha n(2) is used to describe this equilibrium state, where q is the ion production rate, n is the ion concentration, and alpha is Thompson's coefficient of rec ombination. However, the joint analysis of data on ion concentration a nd cosmic ray fluxes observed at various latitudes shows that there is a linear relationship between ion production rate and ion concentrati on, q = beta n, where beta is the linear coefficient of ion recombinat ion.