Investigating the Compatibility of IRI and ASAPS Models in Predicting the foF2 Ionospheric Parameter over the Mid Latitude Region

Ja'Far M Ja’Far,Khalid A Hadi

doi:10.24996/ijs.2021.62.10.34

Abstract

In this research, an investigation for the compatibility of the IRI-2016 and ASAPS international models was conducted to evaluate their accuracy in predicting the ionospheric critical frequency parameter (foF2) for the years 2009 and 2014 that represent the minimum and maximum years of solar cycle 24. The calculations of the monthly average foF2 values were performed for three different selected stations distributed over the mid-latitude region. These stations are Athens - Greece (23.7o E, 37.9 o N), El Arenosillo - Spain (-6.78 o E, 37.09 o N), and Je Ju - South Korea (124.53 o E, 33.6 o N). The calculated values using the two tested models were compared with the observed foF2 datasets for each of the three selected locations. The results showed that the two tested models gave good and close results for all selected stations compared to the observed data for the studied period of time. At the minimum solar cycle 24, the ASAPS model showed in general better values than the IRI-2016 model at Athens, El Arenosillo and Je Ju stations for all tested methods. At maximum solar cycle 24, the IRI-2016 model showed higher and closer values to the observed data at Athens and El Arenosillo stations, while the ASAPS model showed better values at Je Ju station.

Highlights

The ionosphere is one of the layers of the Earth's upper atmosphere, extending from about 50 km to 1000 km and higher, which constitutes less than 1% of the mass of the atmosphere that exceeds 100 km
The statistical calculations using the parameters of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Standard Deviation (STD), Mean Deviation (MD), Variance, Mean Diff, Mean Signed Deviation (MSD) and Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) for El Arenosillo station showed that the best results were generated by IRI-2016 model, as illustrated in the following Tables
The calculations of the statistical correlation coefficients for the monthly predicted frequency of the F2-layer (foF2) parameter datasets for the year 2009 showed that the predicted foF2 results using ASAPS model for all stations were better than the results obtained from IRI-2016 model, while those for the year 2014 showed that ASAPS model was somewhat results compared to IRI-2016 model for EI Arenosillo and Je Ju stations

Summary

Introduction

The ionosphere is one of the layers of the Earth's upper atmosphere, extending from about 50 km to 1000 km and higher, which constitutes less than 1% of the mass of the atmosphere that exceeds 100 km. Test and Results In this work, a comparative study between the ASAPS and IRI-2016 models was conducted by investigating the compatibility of predicting the ionospheric critical frequency parameter generated using the two tested models for three different stations distributed on the midlatitude region during the maximum and minimum years of the 24th solar cycle. The monthly predicted foF2 values (theoretical) for the F2 ionospheric layer (height 400 Km) for the three selected stations, Athens (23.7o E, 37.9o N), El Arenosillo (-6.78o E, 37.09o N) and Je Ju (124.53o E, 33.6o N), were calculated using the two tested models for the two selected years (2009 and 2014) that represented the maximum and minimum years of solar cycle 24.

March April May June July August September October November December

Tested Locations

Findings

Conclusions