The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy

The ionospheric electron density model NeQuick is a «profiler» which uses the peaks of the E-layer, the F1-layer and the F2-layer as anchor points. In the version prepared for and submitted to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) the model uses the ITU-R (CCIR) maps for foF2 and M(3000)F2 and adapted maps similar to the ITU-R ones for foE and foF1. Since users found problematic behaviour of NeQuick under conditions of strong differences of foE and foF2 map structures, the profiling was adapted by changing the properties of the Epstein layers used for this purpose. The new formulation avoids both strange horizontal structures of the geographic distribution of electron density in fixed heights and unrealistic peculiarities of the height profile which occasionally occurred with the old version of the model. Since the Epstein layer approach allows for 8 parameters only (3 layer amplitudes and 5 semi-thicknesses) the adaptation was no minor task but needed careful planning of suitable strategies.

Recently an increasing number of topside electron density profiles has been made available to the scientific community on the Internet. These data are important for ionospheric modeling purposes, since the experimental information on the electron density above the ionosphere maximum of ionization is very scarce. The present work compares NeQuick and IRI models with the topside electron density profiles available in the databases of the ISIS2, IK19 and Cosmos 1809 satellites. Experimental electron content from the F2 peak up to satellite height and electron densities at fixed heights above the peak have been compared under a wide range of different conditions. The analysis performed points out the behavior of the models and the improvements needed to be assessed to have a better reproduction of the experimental results. NeQuick topside is a modified Epstein layer, with thickness parameter determined by an empirical relation. It appears that its performance is strongly affected by this parameter, indicating the need for improvements of its formulation. IRI topside is based on Booker's approach to consider two parts with constant height gradients. It appears that this formulation leads to an overestimation of the electron density in the upper part of the profiles, and overestimation of TEC.

A comparison between two of the most used scintillation models and experimental data is presented. The experimental data have been derived from a GPS scintillation monitor developed at Cornell University and placed in Tucuman (Argentina), under the peak of the anomaly. The models used (GISM and WBMOD) have been run for the geophysical conditions corresponding to the measurements. The comparison is done by subdividing the information on the basis of an ionospheric grid of 5°×5° surface square boxes. The comparison has been performed for several local times, from 18 LT until 04 LT. Here, only a few cases of particular interest are shown. The goal is to understand if the models are able to forecast actual scintillation morphology (from the satellite navigation systems point of view) and if they could be used to yield an estimate of scintillation effects on satellite navigation systems.

A technique to reconstruct the electron density of the ionosphere starting from total electron content values has been developed using the NeQuick ionospheric electron density model driven by its effective ionization parameter Az. The technique is based on the computation of Az values for a suitable worldwide grid of points. A simple way to obtain relevant Az grids is to use global vertical Total Electron Content (TEC) maps to define for each grid point as Az value, the one that minimizes the difference between the experimental and the modeled vertical TEC. Having a global grid of Az values it is possible to compute the electron density at any point in the ionosphere using NeQuick. As a consequence, slant TEC values for specific ground station to satellite links or ionosphere peak parameter values at any location can be calculated. The results of the comparisons between experimental and reconstructed slant TEC as well as experimental and reconstructed peak parameters values indicate that the proposed reconstruction method can be used to reproduce the observed ionosphere in a realistic way.

This paper shows the importance of the F1-layer shape in the electron density profiles obtained from ionograms with different inversion techniques when the profiles are used in ray tracing. This layer often controls the propagation on the path with ranges less than about 2000 km, particularly for spring and summer periods. Ionograms from two different stations, Hainan (19.4N, 109E) and El Arenosillo (37.1N, -6.7E), obtained during the month of July 2002 (average sunspot number: 99.6) during geomagnetic quiet conditions (Ap-index between 9 and 15) are analyzed. The profiles obtained with two different inversion techniques with different options are used together with the ray tracing program of the Proplab-Pro software. This program calculates the features of the received signal as angle of arrival, path length, height of reflection and range for each given profile assumed to define a spherically symmetric ionosphere in the region along the path. For each ionospheric condition (location, day, hour) the difference between range values obtained with Proplab-Pro program using profiles from the two techniques and the different options (POLAN no valley, POLAN valley, POLAN1-layer and NHPC) are considered.

Electron density models of the ionosphere use different analytical formulations for the electron density vertical profile in the topside. The present paper compares some single-layer topside analytical descriptions (Chapman, Epstein, modified Epstein used in the NeQuick model) with experimental topside profiles obtained from measurements of IK19 and ISIS2 satellites. The limits of height range and shape for each formulation are described and analyzed and suggestions for the use of multiple layers solution to reproduce experimental results are given.

A preliminary validation of the technique developed using the NeQuick ionospheric model and the «effective ionization parameter» Az, based on vertical total electron content data ingestion, was carried out in a previous study. The current study was performed to extend the analyzed conditions and confirm the results. The method to validate this technique is based on a comparison between hourly F2 peak values measured with Vertical Incidence (VI) soundings and those calculated with the new technique. Data corresponding to different hours and seasons (equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice) during the period 2000-2003 (high and medium solar activity conditions) were compared for all available ionosonde stations. The results show a good agreement between foF2 and hmF2 values obtained with the new technique and measurements from vertical incidence soundings during quiet and storms conditions.