We show that a plausible cross section for double photoionization of atomic oxygen, urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl1063:grl1063-math-0001 yields the dominant source mechanism for O++ in the thermosphere. With this large source, harmony is obtained between the measured O++ concentrations and the large (k ∼ 10−9 cm³ s−1) measured sink (by charge exchange with molecular species) at altitudes above about 250 km.
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Victor et al. (1979) studied this question.
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