TEC variations and IRI-2012 performance at equatorial latitudes over Africa during low solar activity

Abstract

GPS-TEC data obtained from Asmara (Geomag. Lat 11.42N, Long. 113.31E), Bahir Dar (Geomag. Lat. 8.04N, Long. 111.19E), and Eldoret (Geomag. Lat. 2.71S, Long. 107.30E), three stations in the equatorial region of the African sector, have been used to study the variations in the vertical total electron content (vTEC) and to investigate the performance of the three topside options in the IRI-2012 during the year 2010, a year of low solar activity (Rz=16). The results revealed that TEC exhibits diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal characteristics. TEC values over the three stations are minimum during the sunrise hour of 0600LT and maximum around 1200LT–1500LT irrespective of the season. Daytime peak is followed by a steady decay in TEC which continues into the mid-night. TEC values during the equinoxes are observed to be greater than those of the solstices. TEC values during March equinox are higher than those of September equinox for the stations in the northern hemisphere. June solstices exhibit the lowest values for all the stations. For the station in the southern hemisphere, TEC values during December solstice values are slightly higher than those of September equinox. The three topside options in IRI-2012 reproduce the morphology of TEC at the three stations with correlation coefficient ranging between 0.97 and 0.99. The performance of NeQuick option at predicting TEC at these stations is observed to be the best compared to the other two options irrespective of the season.