The Commission deals with the study of the ionosphere in order to provide the broad understanding necessary to support space and ground-based radio systems. Specifically, the Commission addresses the following areas:

• Global morphology and modelling of the ionosphere;
• Ionospheric space-time variations;
• Development of tools and networks needed to measure ionospheric properties and trends;
• Theory and practice of radio propagation via the ionosphere;
• Application of ionospheric information to radio systems.

To achieve these objectives, the Commission co-operates with other URSI Commissions, corresponding bodies of the ICSU family (IUGG, IAU, COSPAR, SCOSTEP, etc) and other organisations (ITU, IEEE, etc.).