HR: 0800h
AN: SA31A-0357    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling the F2 Topside and Plasmasphere for IRI
AU: * Reinisch, B W
EM: Bodo_Reinisch@uml.edu
AF: Center for Atmospheric Research, Dept. of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 600 Suffolk St., Lowell, MA 01854 United States
AU: Nsumei, P
EM: Patrick_Nsumei@student.uml.edu
AF: Center for Atmospheric Research, Dept. of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 600 Suffolk St., Lowell, MA 01854 United States
AU: Huang, X
EM: Xueqin_Huang@uml.edu
AF: Center for Atmospheric Research, Dept. of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 600 Suffolk St., Lowell, MA 01854 United States
AU: Bilitza, D K
EM: bilitza@pop600.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Raytheon ITSS, GSFC Code 632, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Gallagher, D L
EM: Dennis.L.Gallagher@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, National Space Science & Technology Center Mail Code SD50 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805 United States
AB: Empirical models are an important tool for the study of the different geospace regions from Earth to sun, providing the user with easy access to a synthesis of most/all reliable measurements from ground and space specific parameters and regions. This paper describes a new effort to develop a coherent model of the topside F2 layer and the plasmasphere with the goal to improve the representation of the topside electron density in the IRI model and to extend the IRI description into the plasmasphere. An  -Chapman function with a continuously varying scale-height, dubbed a vari-Chap function, is used to describe the topside F2 vertical electron density profile N(h) that seamlessly connects the ionosphere with the plasmasphere. While the Chapman (neutral) scale-height H(h) varies only slowly near hmF2, it increases rapidly at the O+ to light-ion transition height. A hyperbolic tangent function is suitably representing this variation. New plasmasphere density profile data from the IMAGE/RPI measurements and topside profiles from the ISIS topside sounders are used to construct a continuous profile from hmF2 to several RE altitude.
DE: 2447 Modeling and forecasting
DE: 2481 Topside ionosphere
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005