Calibration of IRI–ITU-R peak density and height over the oceans with topside sounding data

Accuracy of IRI electron density profile depends on the F2 layer peak density and height converted by empirical formulae from the critical frequency and M3000F2 factor provided by the ITU-R (former CCIR). The CCIR/ITU-R maps generated from ground-based ionosonde measurements suffer from model assumptions, in particular, over the oceans where relatively few measurements are available due to a scarcity of ground-based ionosondes. In the present study a grid-point calibration of IRI/ITU-R maps for the foF2 and hmF2 over the oceans is proposed using modeling results based on the topside true-height profiles provided by ISIS1, ISIS2, IK-19 and Cosmos-1809 satellites for the period of 1969–1987. Topside soundings results are compared with IRI and the Russian standard model of ionosphere, SMI, and grouped to provide an empirical calibration coefficient to the peak density and height generated from ITU-R maps. The grid-point calibration coefficients maps are produced in terms of the solar activity, geodetic latitude and longitude, universal time and season allowing update of IRI–ITU-R predictions of the F2 layer peak parameters.     

A 12 year comparison of MIDAS and IRI 2007 ionospheric Total Electron Content

Data assimilation in conventional meteorological applications uses measurements in conjunction with a physical model. In the case of the ionised region of the upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, assimilation techniques are much less mature. The empirical model known as the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) could be used to augment data-sparse regions in an ionospheric now-cast and forecast system. In doing so, it is important that it does not introduce systematic biases to the result. Here, the IRI model is compared to ionospheric observations from the Global Positioning System satellites over Europe and North America. Global Positioning System data are processed into hour-to-hour monthly averages of vertical Total Electron Content using a tomographic technique. A period of twelve years, from January 1998 to December 2009, is analysed in order to capture variations over the whole solar cycle. The study shows that the IRI model underestimates Total Electron Content in the daytime at solar maximum by up to 37% compared to the monthly average of GPS tomographic images, with the greatest differences occurring at the equinox. IRI shows good agreement at other times. Errors in TEC are likely due to peak height and density inaccuracies. IRI is therefore a suitable model for specification of monthly averages of Total Electron Content and can be used to initialise a data assimilation process at times away from solar maximum. It may be necessary to correct for systematic deviations from IRI at solar maximum, and to incorporate error estimation into a data assimilation scheme.     

Cross-hemisphere comparison of mid-latitude ionospheric variability during 1996–2009: Juliusruh vs. Hobart

Analysis of a long-time series of hourly median characteristics of the ionospheric plasma at two mid-latitude locations in the Northern and Southern hemisphere, Juliusruh (54.6N; 13.4E) and Hobart (42.9S; 147.3E), reveals patterns of their synchronous and independent variability. We studied timelines of GPS vTEC, ionogram-derived F2-layer peak electron density NmF2, ionospheric equivalent slab thickness τ, and their ratios at two locations during the complete 23rd solar cycle and its following period of the extremely low solar activity in 2008–2009. This study has also involved the comparative analysis of the observed data versus the model predictions by IRI-2012. During the high solar activity in 2000–2002, seasonal variations show a complicated cross-hemisphere behavior influenced by the winter and semi-annual anomalies, with the largest noon-time values of TEC and NmF2 observed around equinoxes. Strength of the winter anomaly in NmF2 was significantly greater at Juliusruh in comparison with Hobart. The winter anomaly in GPS vTEC values was much weaker than in NmF2 for the Northern hemisphere mid-latitudes and was entirely absent at the Southern hemisphere. Cross-hemisphere analysis of the equivalent slab thickness shows its clear seasonal dependence for all levels of solar activity: the day-time maximum τ_max is observed during local summer, whereas the day-time minimum τ_min is observed during local winter. The night-time values of τ were higher compared to the day-time values during the winter and equinox seasons. Comparative model-data study shows rather good IRI performance of the day-time NmF2 for mid-latitudes of both hemispheres and rather noticeable overestimations for the mid-night NmF2 values during high solar activity. Analysis of IRI vTEC demonstrates the model limitations, related with the absence of the plasmaspheric part, and actual demand in a reliable and standard ionosphere–plasmasphere model for analysis of GPS vTEC.     

我国电离层基本参量与国际参考模式的比较

本文利用我国满洲里、北京、武昌、重庆和广州等台站电离层观测记录,对各层临界频率的实测值(月中值)与IRI-86的计算值进行了分析比较.|发现两者存在着显著而系统的偏离.E层和F₁层偏离较小F₂层偏离较大,其相对值有时超过60%.总的来说,f₀F₂的相对偏离:夜间大,白天小冬季大,夏季小太阳活动低年大,高年小随着纬度降低偏离增大模式值普遍大于实测值.      

An evaluation of the IRI-2007 storm time model at low latitude stations

This paper discusses the ability of the International Reference Ionosphere IRI-2007 storm time model to predict foF2 ionospheric parameter during geomagnetic storm periods. Experimental data (based on availability) from two low latitude stations: Vanimo (geographic coordinates, 2.7 °S, 141.3 °E, magnetic coordinates, 12.3 °S, 212.50 °E) and Darwin (geographic coordinates, 12.45 °S, 130.95 °E, magnetic coordinates, 22.9 °S, 202.7 °E) during nine storms that occurred in 2000 (Rz₁₂ = 119), 2001(Rz₁₂ = 111) and 2003 (Rz₁₂ = 64) are compared with those obtained by the IRI-2007 storm model. The results obtained show that the percentage deviation between the experimental and IRI predicted foF2 values during these storm periods is as high as 100% during the main and recovery phases. Based on the values of “relative deviation module mean” (RDMM) obtained (i.e. between 0.08 and 0.60), it is observed that there is a reasonable to poor agreement between measured foF2 values and the IRI-storm model prediction values during main and recovery phases of the storms under investigation. As a result, in addition to other studies that have been carried out from different sectors, more studies are required to be carried out. This will enable IRI community to improve on the present performance of the model. In general the IRI-storm model predictions follow normal trend of the foF2 measured values but does not reproduce well the measured values.     

Comparative study of high-latitude,mid-latitude and low-latitude ionosphere on basis of local empirical models

The analysis of the regular features of the high-, mid- and low-latitude ionosphere characteristics has been carried out using local empirical models. The local empirical models were derived from the manual scaled ionogram data recorded by DPS-4 Digisondes located at Norilsk (69 N, 88E), Irkutsk (52 N, 104E) and Hainan (19 N, 109E) for a 6-year period from December, 2002 to December, 2008. The technique used to build the local empirical model is described. Primary focuses are diurnal, seasonal and solar cycle variations of the peak electron density and the peak height under low solar activity and their changes with increasing solar activity. The main objective of the paper is to reveal both common and specific features of high-, mid- and low-latitude ionosphere. Based on earlier comparisons with the International Reference Ionosphere model, we analyze how the common and specific features are reproduced by this model.     

基于BDS/GPS和经验模型的区域电离层建模

基于北斗卫星导航系统（BDS）和全球定位系统（GPS）实测电离层穿刺点（IPP）数据,结合国际参考电离层（IRI）经验模型历史数据,提出一种对区域二维电离层总电子含量（TEC）进行高精度建模的方法.针对缺乏穿刺点的区域内短时间电离层建模时精度较低且各时段穿刺点空间分布不同的问题,该方法使用IRI模型在建模区域内均匀添加虚拟穿刺点数据,并根据与实测穿刺点的距离,使用构造的权重计算公式赋予其动态权重值,通过加权最小二乘法进行球谐模型参数解算.与欧洲定轨中心（CODE）发布的全球电离层图（GIM）进行数据比对发现,相对于只使用BDS/GPS实测穿刺点数据的建模方法,利用本文建模方法计算获得的垂直总电子含量（VTEC）值对缺乏实测穿刺点的区域精度有明显的提升.      

Evaluation of the improvement of IRI-2016 over IRI-2012 at the India low-latitude region during the ascending phase of cycle 24

This paper investigated the performance of the latest International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI-2016) over that of IRI-2012 in predicting total electron content (TEC) at three different stations in the Indian region. The data used were Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 over three low-latitude stations in India namely; Bangalore (13.02°N Geographic latitude, 77.57°E Geographic longitude), Hyderabad (17.25°N Geographic latitude, 78.30°E Geographic longitude) and Surat (21.16°N Geographic latitude, 72.78°E Geographic longitude). Monthly, the seasonal and annual variability of GPS-TEC have been compared with those derived from International Reference Ionosphere IRI-2016 and IRI-2012 with two different options of topside electron density: NeQuick and IRI01-corr. It is observed that both versions of IRI (i.e., IRI-2012 and IRI-2016) predict the GPS-TEC with some deviations, the latest version of IRI (IRI-2016) predicted the TEC similar to those predicted by IRI-2012 for all the seasons at all stations except for morning hours (0500 LT to 1000?LT). This shows that the effect of the updated version is seen only during morning hours and also that there is no change in TEC values by IRI-2016 from those predicted by IRI-2012 for the rest of the time of the day in the Indian low latitude region. The semiannual variations in the daytime maximum values of TEC are clearly observed from both GPS and model-derived TEC values with two peaks around March-April and September-October months of each year. Further, the Correlation of TEC derived by IRI-2016 and IRI-2012 with EUV and F10.7 shows similar results. This shows that the solar input to the IRI-2016 is similar to IRI 2012. There is no significant difference observed in TEC, bottom-side thickness (B0) and shape (B1) parameter predictions by both the versions of the IRI model. However, a clear improvement is visible in hmF2 and NmF2 predictions by IRI-2016 to that by IRI-2012. The SHU-2015 option of the IRI-2016 gives a better prediction of NmF2 for all the months at low latitude station Ahmedabad compare to AMTB 2013.     

Testing the improvement of performance of the IRI model in the estimation of TEC over the mid-latitude American regions

This paper mainly discusses the improvement of performance of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model in estimating the variation of the Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) over the mid latitude American regions during the relatively low (2008–2010) and relatively high (2012) solar activity years. This has been conducted employing the VTEC values obtained from the dual frequency ground based Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers located at Mineral Area Community College, MACC (37.85°N, 269.52°W) and Mississippi County Airport, MAIR (36.85°N, 270.64°W), and the latest versions of the IRI online model (IRI 2007, IRI 2012 and IRI 2016). The study mainly focuses to compare the trend of variability of the monthly and seasonal modeled VTEC values (IRI 2007 VTEC, IRI 2012 VTEC and IRI 2016 VTEC) with the corresponding measured VTEC values (GPS VTEC). The overall results show that the IRI VTEC values (almost in all versions of the model) are generally smaller than the GPS VTEC except after about 15:00 UT (09:00 LT) in the December solstice when the Sun shifts to the high solar activity. On the contrary, overestimations of the VTEC values by the model are observed in traversing from the low solar activity (2008) to high solar activity (2012) phase, especially after about 15:00 UT (09::00 LT) with the IRI 2016 version showing the highest. In general, the IRI 2007 and IRI 2012 versions show similar monthly and seasonal underestimations or overestimations showing that the two versions have almost similar performance. The IRI 2016 version is generally better in capturing both the diurnal and arithmetic mean GPS VTEC values with some exceptional months and seasons as compared to those of the IRI 2007 and IRI 2012 versions.