Performance Evaluation of the IRI2012 Model at Equatorial Region during Time of Minimum Ionization in the F2 Region

Abstract:

This work presents an evaluation of the performance of the International Reference Ionopshere (IRI2012) model to predict time of minimum ionization of the electron density in the F2 region of the equatorial ionosphere. Our focus is on this region of the ionosphere because of its peculiar electrodynamics behavior and implications on communication and navigation applications when compared with other regions of the ionosphere. We have used foF2 data obtained from a number of ionospheric stations at equatorial region to cary out this work. The seasonal and diurnal variability of foF2 during different levels of solar activities were carried out and compared with the IRI2012 model predictions. Both the CCIR and URSI options of the IRI model were considered in the analysis. Although the two options are able to follow the general trend of the time of minimum ionization, the CCIR is able to give a better predictions than the URSI option. It was also observed that there were cases where each of the options either predicts the time of minimum ionization earlier or later than the experimental values. A comprehensive statistical analysis of the results are presented.