HR: 0800h
AN: SA51B-0253    [Abstracts]
TI: Quantitative Description of Monthly Ionospheric Variability in the IRI Model
AU: * Bilitza, D
EM: bilitza@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Raytheon ITSS, GSFC, Code 632, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model provides an empirical specification of the ionospheric climatology at the level of monthly averages. Operational use of the IRI model often requires an estimate of the monthly variability, so that an operator not only knows the expected monthly average value of an ionospheric parameter but also the expected variation around this monthly average. A special IRI Task Force Activity at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy has worked on this modeling goal during the last few years using ionosonde data from many stations worldwide focusing primarily on the electron density in the region below the F peak. Other IRI team members have looked at the variability at different heights and have studied the variability seen for the plasma temperatures. We will report on the status and progress of this activity and will discuss the different parameter used for describing ionospheric variability (mean, median, standard deviation, quartiles, deciles) and the planned model implementation. First results will be reported based on the ICTP meetings and the 2003 IRI Workshop in Grahamstown, South Africa.
UR: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/model/ionos/iri.html
DE: 6929 Ionospheric physics (2409)
DE: 6934 Ionospheric propagation (2487)
DE: 2400 IONOSPHERE
DE: 2447 Modeling and forecasting
DE: 2481 Topside ionosphere
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting