HR: 0800h
AN: SA51B-0249    [Abstracts]
TI: Ionospheric Tomography Application to Model Validation at High Latitude: A Trough Study
AU: * Decker, D T
EM: dwight.decker@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01940 United States
AU: Bishop, G J
EM: gregory.bishop@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01940 United States
AU: Welsh, J A
EM: judith.welsh@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01940 United States
AU: Scro, K D
EM: Kevin.Scro@cisf.af.mil
AF: SMC Det11/WXT, 1050 E. Stewart Ave, Petersen AFB, CO 80914 United States
AB: Data sets of ionospheric trough observations obtained in the Alaska and Western European sectors have been used for validation of ionospheric models. The dataset of over 1300 cases (selected from more than three years of observations) includes the total electron content (TEC) characteristics of the troughs that were obtained by integrating vertically through electron density profiles produced by ionospheric tomography. The well-known great variability exhibited by the trough, in terms of its latitudinal location, latitudinal extent, longitudinal variation, boundaries, and gradients is indicative of the challenge of ionospheric modeling in the high latitudes. Present and future models that seek accurate characterization in the higher latitudes must represent the trough region. However, failure to accurately locate the latitudinal position of the trough can have a worse impact than excluding it altogether. In this paper, we report on application of this tomography-derived database to a validation study of the Parameterized Real-Time Ionospheric Specification Model (PRISM). PRISM was developed for the purpose of using near real-time observations to provide a global specification of ionosphere. In particular, PRISM uses the energetic particle and ion drift measurements available from the DMSP satellites to identify several high latitude boundaries including the equatorial and poleward boundaries of the trough. In this study, we focused on assessing PRISM's ability to specify the F region trough. The effort included a statistical study of PRSIM climatology, and case studies where DMSP particle data was used to provide PRISM with definition of the location of the troughs. Case studies also performed runs that were designed to invoke PRISM's alternative empirical F-region trough model. Details of these studies, and implications for further PRISM studies and for the next generation of ionospheric assimilation models will be presented.
DE: 2447 Modeling and forecasting
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting