Ionospheric Variations in the Region of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly Crest: Comparison Between Observations and IRI-2012 Model Predictions.

Abstract:

The objective of this work is to study the variations of the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2) in the region of equatorial ionization anomaly crest and check the accuracy of International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2012) model predictions using ionosonde measurements from a number of stations in this region. We have used data, based on availability, corresponding to different seasonal and solar activity periods from each station considered to carry out our investigations. Details of the statistical analysis using percentage deviation (PD), upper and lower inter-quartile range (IQR) and relative deviation module mean (RDMM) for the evaluation of the IRI model performance are presented. The results show that, generally, the IRI model predictions have agreement with the observed values in terms of the pattern of variations but there are number of cases where IRI model overestimates and underestimates the observed values. Results from this study will be of help to improving prediction ability of the IRI models.