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Development of a middle and low latitude theoretical ionospheric model and an observation system data assimilation experiment

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  • Geophysics
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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

On the basis of previous work, we develop a middle and low latitude theoretical ionospheric model in this paper, named Theoretical Ionospheric Model of the Earth in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (TIME-IGGCAS). TIME-IGGCAS solves the equations of mass continuity, motion and energy of electron and ions self-consistently and uses an eccentric dipole field approximation to the Earth’s magnetic field. We combine the Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches in the model and take account of the plasma E×B drift velocity. Calculation results reveal that the model is steady and credible and can reproduce most large-scale features of ionosphere. By using TIME-IGGCAS, we carried out an observation system data assimilation experiment. Assimilation results show that the E×B drift velocity can be accurately estimated by ingesting the observed foF2 and hmF2 into the model applying nonlinear least-square fit method. We suggest that this work is of great significance in the development of ionospheric data assimilation model to give better nowcast and forecast of ionosphere.

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Correspondence to Wan WeiXing.

Additional information

Supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX3-SW-144), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40636032, 40574071 and 40504023), and National Important Basic Research Project (Grant No. 2006CB806306)

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Yue, X., Wan, W., Liu, L. et al. Development of a middle and low latitude theoretical ionospheric model and an observation system data assimilation experiment. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 94–101 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0462-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0462-z

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