We solve the linear problem of the density response of a neutral or ionospheric layer structure of arbitrary density profile to gravity wave perturbations in the background atmosphere. It is shown that the density response of the bottomside of the structure is of larger amplitude than the topside, whereas the general magnitude of the density response depends on the relative sharpness of the layer density gradient in comparison to the gradient of the quiescent background atmosphere. The sharper the layer gradient, the larger the layer density response. Interpretation and application of our results to the ozone and atomic oxygen layers, the sporadic‐E layer and to the D and E regions of the ionosphere are discussed.

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We have constructed a model of plasmaspheric composition and density in the region bounded by the 500-km altitude level and by the dipole field line L = 5. We first discuss the collisionless kinetic theory model of quasi-neutral plasma distributions along a dipole field line under the gravitation field, the ambipolar diffusion electric field and the inhomogeneous magnetic field. A simpler fluid-equation model of the plasma distribution under the influence of the above force fields is shown to be able to incorporate effects of plasmasphere thermal structure. With O +, H +, and He + densities at 500 km as input boundary values and with a phenomenological thermal structure of the plasmasphere abstracted from Ogo 5, Prognoz, and S3-3 satellite data, we show that the plasma density distributions in the fluid-equation model are consistent with the densities derived from in situ satellite measurements and from whistler observations, both in the topside ionosphere and in the outer plasmasphere.has not been systematically constructed and confronted with observations. A fluid model of ionospheric dynamics with

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