for which we need the branching ratios and states of excitation of the products as well as the rate constants. Regarding transport processes in the thermosphere, diffusion coefficients are well known, but the data base on neutral winds is not very adequate• Thermal changes due to ionopsheric depletion have been estimated by Bernhardt (1976). The electron temperature can increase by factors of 2-4, and this will change the chemical reaction rates in the ionospheric plasma to second order. To first order the plasma transport will be affected by plasma temperature increases. Questions related to the actual situation of a hot, tenuous plasma imbedded in a cold, dense plasma should be considered. Irregularity formation due to plasma instabilities should be considered. At middle or high latitudes a gradient drift instability can be driven by a neutral wind perpendicular to the geomagnetic field lines. At equatorial latitudes, a gravitationally driven instability can produce Spread F irregularities, and Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs), which are gravity waves propagating upward from disturbances in the lower atmoshere, can also give rise to equatorial Spread F. A significant question to ask is the following: • What effects produced by injections of exhaust are not seen in nature? • ANSWER: New species and energy injected in to the F-region and the subsequent strong, localized depletion and, possibly, irregularities. We need experiments to study phenomena that do not occur naturally. 3.6.4 Other Experiments (Aikin) Conjugate point release experiments should receive a high priority; the Space Shuttle chemical release facility would be useful to accomplish such experiments. Chemical reactions can be studied in the space environment by use of the Shuttle release and diagnostic facility. Laboratory Experiments 1. Study of the electron-ion dissociative recombination coefficient for 1^0 • Determine the rate, identification, and energy of the products.
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