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The ESA Swarm mission to help ionospheric modeling: a new NeQuick topside formulation for mid-latitude regions

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Papers from SWICo members

M. Pezzopane and A. Pignalberi.

The ionospheric topside representation made by the NeQuick model is improved by correcting the H0 parameter. This task is accomplished by fitting the NeQuick topside analytical function through the F2-layer absolute electron density maximum and the electron density value as measured by Swarm satellites from December 2013 to September 2018. The new NeQuick formulation is statistically validated by comparing modeled values to those derived from COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 measured Radio Occultation profiles, and those measured by Swarm satellites.

Example of topside profiles calculated with the proposed new NeQuick formulation.

The results show that the proposed formulation is reliable and significantly improves the topside description made by the NeQuick model at mid latitudes, for both high and low solar activities. This means that this new formulation might be proposed as an additional topside option  for the International Reference Ionosphere model.

Publication: M. Pezzopane and A. Pignalberi, The ESA Swarm mission to help ionospheric modeling: a new NeQuick topside formulation for mid-latitude regions, Scientific Reports, 9, 12253, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48440-6