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Two‐component model of topside ionosphere electron density profiles retrieved from Global Navigation Satellite Systems radio occultations
Author(s) -
GonzálezCasado Guillermo,
Juan J. Miguel,
HernándezPajares Manuel,
Sanz Jaume
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2013ja019099
Subject(s) - ionosphere , radio occultation , scale height , electron density , tec , international reference ionosphere , total electron content , altitude (triangle) , physics , component (thermodynamics) , population , scale (ratio) , computational physics , atmospheric sciences , electron , geodesy , meteorology , geology , geophysics , mathematics , geometry , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , demography , sociology
A simple model for the topside ionosphere region is introduced and applied to fit radio‐occultation‐retrieved electron density profiles for altitudes above the F2 peak. The model considers two isothermal components representing the population of the O + (ionosphere component) and the H + (protonosphere component) ions. The purpose of the model is to achieve an accurate fit of the observed profiles in the topside ionosphere region while, at the same time, allowing a direct and simple derivation of two important ionospheric parameters, namely the O + vertical scale height and the upper transition height. Covering a time period of 1 year, the fits with the two‐component model function are compared with those achieved with one‐component functions commonly used in the literature and it is shown that the former provides significantly better fits than the later, with more than a factor of two improvement. The model predictions concerning: the correlation between the O + vertical scale height and the upper transition height, the altitude dependence of the vertical scale height of the electron density, and the quantitative contribution of the protonosphere to the total electron content are examined and shown to be consistent with the observations and with previous studies. It is concluded that the model provides a realistic description of the vertical distribution of the two main ion constituents of the topside ionosphere.