Greener Journal of  Physical Sciences  Vol. 3 (2), pp. 058-065, February 2013.

ISSN: 2276-7851 © 2011 Greener Journals

Research Paper

Manuscript Number: 011813394

 

Variability of hmF2 over San Vito: Comparison with International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) Model Predictions

 

Olaniyi G.A.*, Adewale A.O. and Oyeyemi E.O.

 

Physics Department, University of Lagos, Yaba, Nigeria.

 

*Corresponding Author’s Email: ganeey24 @ yahoo.com.

Abstract:

A mid-latitude station was selected for this study to investigate the variations in the diurnal and seasonal median values of the height of the peak electron density of the F2-layer of the ionospheric region. Namely, San Vito (SAN)(40.60N,17.80E). Data were arranged into seasons as follow: December Solstices (November, December and January), March Equinox (February, March and April), June Solstices (May, June and July) and September Equinox (August, September and October). The diurnal and seasonal mean values were calculated, recorded and used in the analysis and comparison, this is the basis of this study. Two distinct solar activity periods were considered: 2001-2002 and 2007-2008 which were high solar activity (HSA) and low solar activity (LSA) periods respectively. Observed values were analysed and compared with predicted values of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2007) model, using the two options of CCIR and URSI. The diurnal and seasonal patterns of the observed values are predicted fairly well by the IRI-2007 model, though; there were overestimations and underestimations at different times of the day for both solar activity periods in all the seasons considered. The CCIR option of the IRI-2007 model performed better in the analysis of the predicted values, though, both the CCIR and URSI gave hmF2 values closed to the observed ones for the solar activity periods considered.
 
Keywords: IRI-2007 model, CCIR, URSI models

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