NeQuick2 and IRI2012 models applied to mid and high latitudes, and the Antarctic ionosphere

Abstract

Within the framework of the AUSPICIO (AUtomatic Scaling of Polar Ionograms and Co-operative Ionospheric Observations) project, a limited sample of ionograms recorded mostly in 2001 and 2009, and to a lesser extent in 2006–07 and 2012–15, at the ionospheric observatories of Hobart and Macquarie Island (mid-latitude), Comandante Ferraz and Livingstone Island (high latitude), and Casey, Mawson, Davis and Scott Base (inside the Antarctic Polar Circle (APC)) were considered to study the capability of the NeQuick2 and IRI2012 models for predicting the behaviour of the ionosphere at mid- and high latitudes and over the Antarctic area. The applicability of NeQuick2 and IRI2012 was evaluated as i) climatological models taking as input the F10.7 solar activity index and ii) assimilative models ingesting the foF2 and hmF2 measurements obtained from the electron density profiles provided by the Adaptive Ionospheric Profiler (AIP). The statistical analysis results reveal that the best description of the ionosphere’s electron density is achieved when the AIP measurements are ingested into the NeQuick2 and IRI2012 models. Moreover, NeQuick2 performance is far better than IRI2012 performance outside the APC. Conversely, the IRI2012 model performs better than the NeQuick2 model inside the APC.

Modeling the Plasma Frequency for F2-Region Using Modified Chapman Function and NeQuick2 Model over Different Geographical Locations and Months

“…Figures 2-6 show the plasma frequency height profiles of F2 region for different ten locations for midday hour using Eqs. (3,5,8) and data shown in Table 1 compared with data of IRI2012. It can be seen that the plasma frequency height profile calculated using the modified chapman function is more closely to the data by IRI2012, especially at the mid-latitudes, while the results of the NeQuick2 model is more slightly different from the IRI2012.…”

“…The NeQuick is an ionospheric electron density model advanced at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), and at the Institute for Geophysics, Astrophysics and Meteorology (IGAM) of the Uni. of Graz, Austria [5]. It is founded on the DGR ''profiler'' suggested by Di Giovanni and Radicella [6], thereafter adjusted by Radicella and Zhang [7] and is a quick run model for trans-ionospheric propagation applications.…”

Accuracy Analysis of International Reference Ionosphere 2016 and NeQuick2 in the Antarctic

“…Then, by integrating the electron density, the STEC can be evaluated by the NeQuick2 mode. Nava et al [ 23 ] presented the calculation method hmF2 or STEC using the NeQuick model in detail.…”