Climatologic Characteristics of High-Latitude Ionosphere-Eiscat Observations and Comparison with the Iri Model

With EISCAT observations during 1988~1999, the climatologic features of electron densities in the auroral ionospheric F‐region have been investigated statistically and compared with the IRI‐2001 model for different seasons at different phases of the solar cycle. The electron densities from EISCAT ob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chinese journal of geophysics 2005-05, Vol.48 (3), p.521-529
Main Authors: CAI, Hong‐Tao, MA, Shu‐Ying, Schlegel, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climatologic characteristics
Ionospheric model
Polar ionosphere
Winter anomaly
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Summary:With EISCAT observations during 1988~1999, the climatologic features of electron densities in the auroral ionospheric F‐region have been investigated statistically and compared with the IRI‐2001 model for different seasons at different phases of the solar cycle. The electron densities from EISCAT observations show obviously the well‐known winter anomaly in solar maximum and a semiannual variation in solar minimum. The averaged 2‐D distributions of EISCAT Ne vs. tUT and height H, as well as diurnal variations of TEC up to 500km, are reasonably consistent with those predicted by the IRI‐2001 model as a whole. The height profiles of Ne, however, are remarkably different between the IRI model and the EISCAT observations around the time when the TEC reaches its maximum. In this case the electron density above F2 peak is too large in the IRI‐2001 model, causing higher TEC than EISCAT observations. On the other hand, EISCAT observations show obviously characteristics of semiannual variation at fall phase of solar activity, however, the results of IRI‐2001 model show no evidence of that.
ISSN:0898-9591
2326-0440
DOI:10.1002/cjg2.684