Assessment of Modeling Capability for Reproducing Storm Impacts on TEC

Ja Soon Shim1, Maria M Kuznetsova2, Lutz Rastaetter3, Dieter Bilitza4, Mihail Codrescu5, Anthea Coster6, Barbara A Emery7, Matthias Foerster8, Ben Foster9, Timothy J Fuller-Rowell10, Joseph D Huba11, Larisa P Goncharenko12, Anthony J Mannucci13, Alexander A Namgaladze14, Xiaoqing Pi15, Boris Prokhorov8, Aaron J Ridley16, Ludger Scherliess17, Robert Walter Schunk17, Jan Josef Sojka18 and Lie Zhu17, (1)Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Community Coordinated Modeling Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)George Mason University, Washington, United States, (5)SWPC/NOAA, Boulder, United States, (6)MIT Haystack Observatory, Westford, MA, United States, (7)HAO/NCAR, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany, (9)NCAR, Boulder, CO, United States, (10)Univ of Colorado/CIRES, Boulder, United States, (11)Syntek Technologies, Fairfax, United States, (12)MIT Haystack Observatory, Westford, United States, (13)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (14)Murmansk State Technical University, Murmansk, Russia, (15)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (16)Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States, (17)Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States, (18)Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Physics, Logan, UT, United States
Abstract:
During geomagnetic storm, the energy transfer from solar wind to magnetosphere-ionosphere system adversely affects the communication and navigation systems. Quantifying storm impacts on TEC (Total Electron Content) and assessment of modeling capability of reproducing storm impacts on TEC are of importance to specifying and forecasting space weather. In order to quantify storm impacts on TEC, we considered several parameters: TEC changes compared to quiet time (the day before storm), TEC difference between 24-hour intervals, and maximum increase/decrease during the storm. We investigated the spatial and temporal variations of the parameters during the 2006 AGU storm event (14-15 Dec. 2006) using ground-based GPS TEC measurements in the selected 5 degree eight longitude sectors. The latitudinal variations were also studied in two longitude sectors among the eight sectors where data coverage is relatively better. We obtained modeled TEC from various ionosphere/thermosphere (IT) models. The parameters from the models were compared with each other and with the observed values. We quantified performance of the models in reproducing the TEC variations during the storm using skill scores. This study has been supported by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Model outputs and observational data used for the study will be permanently posted at the CCMC website (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov) for the space science communities to use.
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