Empirical Model of the Location of the Main Ionospheric Trough

Abstract

The empirical model of the location of the main ionospheric trough (MIT) is developed based on an analysis of data from CHAMP satellite measured at the altitudes of ~350–450 km during 2000–2007; the model is presented in the form of the analytical dependence of the invariant latitude of the trough minimum Φm on the magnetic local time (MLT), the geomagnetic activity, and the geographical longitude for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The time-weighted average index Kp(τ), the coefficient of which τ = 0.6 is determined by the requirement of the model minimum deviation from experimental data, is used as an indicator of geomagnetic activity. The model has no limitations, either in local time or geomagnetic activity. However, the initial set of MIT minima mainly contains data dealing with an interval of 16–08 MLT for Kp(τ) < 6; therefore, the model is rather qualitative outside this interval. It is also established that (a) the use of solar local time (SLT) instead of MLT increases the model error no more than by 5–10%; (b) the amplitude of the longitudinal effect at the latitude of MIT minimum in geomagnetic (invariant) coordinates is ten times lower than that in geographical coordinates.