The paper presents the latest version of the International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI‐2016) describing the most important changes and improvements that were included with this version and discussing their impact on the IRI predictions of ionospheric parameters. IRI‐2016 includes two new model options for the F2 peak height hmF2 and a better representation of topside ion densities at very low and high solar activities. In addition, a number of smaller changes were made concerning the use of solar indices and the speedup of the computer program. We also review the latest developments toward a Real‐Time IRI. The goal is to progress from predicting climatology to describing the real‐time weather conditions in the ionosphere.

The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) project was established jointly by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) in the late sixties with the goal to develop an international standard for the specification of plasma parameters in the Earth's ionosphere. COSPAR needed such a specification for the evaluation of environmental effects on spacecraft and experiments in space, and URSI for radiowave propagation studies and applications. At the request of COSPAR and URSI, IRI was developed as a data-based model to avoid the uncertainty of theory-based models which are only as good as the evolving theoretical understanding. Being based on most of the available and reliable observations of the ionospheric plasma from the ground and from space, IRI describes monthly averages of electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, ion composition, and several additional parameters in the altitude range from 60 km to 2000 km. A working group of about 50 international ionospheric experts is in charge of developing and improving the IRI model. Over time as new data became available and new modeling techniques emerged, steadily improved editions of the IRI model have been published. This paper gives a brief history of the IRI project and describes the latest version of the model, IRI-2012. It also briefly discusses efforts to develop a real-time IRI model. The IRI homepage is at http://IRImodel.org.

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[1] The time and scale size of planetary wave signatures (PWS) in the mid latitude F region ionosphere of the Northern Hemisphere and the main pattern of their possible sources of origin are presented. The PWS involved in this study have periods of about 2-3, 5-6, 10, 13.5, and 16 days. The PWS in the ionosphere are large scale phenomena. PWS with periods of about 2-3 and 5-6 days have a typical longitudinal size of 80°, they are coherent some 6000 km apart, and they occur about 12% and 14% of the entire observational record respectively. The typical longitudinal size of PWS with periods of about 10 and 13 days is 100°, they are coherent some 7500 km apart, and they occur about 24% and 22% of the entire observational record respectively. PWS with periods of about 16 days seem to be global scale phenomena, and they occur about 30% of the entire observational record. The results estimate that geomagnetic activity variations play the most important role for driving PWS in the ionosphere. The geomagnetic activity variations can drive at least 20-30% of the PWS with periods of about 2-3, 5-6, 10 and 16 days, but even up to 65-70% for the PWS with periods of about 10 and 16 days, and they practically drive 100% of the PWS with periods of about 13.5 days. The planetary wave activity in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT) winds can drive about 20-30% of the PWS with periods of about 2-3, 5-6, 10 and 16 days. There is a significant percentage of existence of PWS in the F region apparently 'independent' from the geomagnetic activity variations and of the MLT winds. The latter is better expressed for PWS with shorter period. PWS with periods of about 13.5 days are an exception to that. A candidate mechanism for the 'independent' events may be the non linear interaction or the amplitude modulation between different PWS.