TY - JOUR

T1 - Electron density in the polar F region ionosphere during solar minimum

T2 - Modeling, radar and ionosonde observations

AU - Lukianova, Renata

AU - Kozlovsky, Alexander

N1 - Funding Information: EISCAT for operating the facility and supplying the data. EISCAT is an international association supported by research organizations in China (CRIRP), Finland (SA), France (CNRS, till end 2006), Germany (DFG), Japan (NIPR and STEL), Norway (NFR), Sweden (VR), and the United Kingdom (STFC). The OMNI data were obtained from CDAWeb. RL acknowledges the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (budgetary funding) and the Academy of Finland (grant 310348). Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2020 by the Geophysical Center RAS. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - We use measurements of the ionospheric electron density (Ne) obtained by the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) and the Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory (SGO) ionosonde for comparison with the Ne distribution predicted by a numerical model of the polar F region ionosphere. The model enables representing the main large-scale ionospheric irregularities, which are primarily controlled by the interplanetary magnetic field, particle precipitation, solar zenith angle and properties of the neutral atmosphere. The analysis utilizes the data collected in March, July and January under very quiet space weather conditions, when the radar operated almost continuously during International Polar Year. The main ionospheric parameters (magnitude and height of the F2 layer peak density) are inferred from the Ne composites constructed for each local time hour. The results indicate that the modeled Ne distributions are in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data. However, the modeled altitude and peak density systematically exceed, by about 10%, the observed values.

AB - We use measurements of the ionospheric electron density (Ne) obtained by the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) and the Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory (SGO) ionosonde for comparison with the Ne distribution predicted by a numerical model of the polar F region ionosphere. The model enables representing the main large-scale ionospheric irregularities, which are primarily controlled by the interplanetary magnetic field, particle precipitation, solar zenith angle and properties of the neutral atmosphere. The analysis utilizes the data collected in March, July and January under very quiet space weather conditions, when the radar operated almost continuously during International Polar Year. The main ionospheric parameters (magnitude and height of the F2 layer peak density) are inferred from the Ne composites constructed for each local time hour. The results indicate that the modeled Ne distributions are in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data. However, the modeled altitude and peak density systematically exceed, by about 10%, the observed values.

KW - EISCAT radar

KW - Numerical modeling

KW - Plasma density

KW - Polar F region ionosphere

KW - SGO ionosonde

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088963447&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2205/2019ES000699

DO - 10.2205/2019ES000699

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85088963447

VL - 20

JO - Russian Journal of Earth Sciences

JF - Russian Journal of Earth Sciences

SN - 1681-1178

IS - 1

M1 - ES1004

ER -