Evaluating F2-region long-term trends using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model: is this a feasible approximation for experimental trends?

Zossi, Bruno S.; Duran, Trinidad; Medina, Franco D.; de Haro Barbas, Blas F.; Melendi, Yamila; Elias, Ana G.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13973-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13973-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Long-term changes and trends in the middle and upper...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13973-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 21

Research article

|

09 Nov 2023

Research article |

| 09 Nov 2023

Evaluating F2-region long-term trends using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model: is this a feasible approximation for experimental trends?

Bruno S. Zossi, Trinidad Duran, Franco D. Medina, Blas F. de Haro Barbas, Yamila Melendi, and Ana G. Elias

Data sets

Inter-hemispheric imaging of the ionosphere with the upgraded IRI-Plas model during the space weather storms T. L. Gulyaeva, F. Arikan, and I. Stanislawska https://doi.org/10.5047/eps.2011.04.007

Tokyo, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology WDC for Ionosphere and Space Weather https://wdc.nict.go.jp/IONO/index_E.html

Index of /wdc/iondata/au Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre https://downloads.sws.bom.gov.au/wdc/iondata/au/

Index of /wdc/iondata/medians Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre https://downloads.sws.bom.gov.au/wdc/iondata/medians/

Global ionospheric radio observatory (GIRO) B. W. Reinisch and I. A. Galkin https://doi.org/10.5047/eps.2011.03.001

Monthly table of Juliusruh foF2 data Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Rostock https://www.ionosonde.iap-kborn.de/mon_fof2.htm

UKSSDC UK Solar System Data Centre https://www.ukssdc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wdcc1/secure/geophysical_parameters.pl

Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels WDC-SILSO https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/datafiles

Short summary

The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) is a widely used ionospheric empirical model based on observations from a worldwide network of ionospheric stations. It is reasonable, then, to expect that it captures long-term changes in ionospheric parameters linked to trend forcings like greenhouse gases increasing concentration and the Earth's magnetic field secular variation. We show that the IRI model can be a valuable tool for obtaining preliminary approximations of experimental trends.