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Ionospheric Trend Over Wuhan During 1947–2017: Comparison Between Simulation and Observation
Author(s) -
Yue Xinan,
Hu Lianhuan,
Wei Yong,
Wan Weixing,
Ning Baiqi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2017ja024675
Subject(s) - ionosonde , earth's magnetic field , ionosphere , environmental science , equinox , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , international reference ionosphere , climatology , geodesy , geology , physics , magnetic field , geophysics , total electron content , electron density , quantum mechanics , tec , electron
Since Roble and Dickinson (1989), who drew the community's attention about the greenhouse gas effect on the ionosphere, huge efforts have been implemented on ionospheric climate study. However, direct comparison between observations and simulations is still rare. Recently, the Wuhan ionosonde observations were digitized and standardized through unified method back to 1947. In this study, the NCAR‐TIEGCM was driven by Mauna Loa Observatory observed CO 2 level and International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) geomagnetic field to simulate their effects on ionospheric long‐term trend over Wuhan. Only March equinox was considered in both data analysis and simulation. Simulation results show that the CO 2 and geomagnetic field have comparable effect on h m F 2 trend, while geomagnetic field effect is stronger than CO 2 on f o F 2 trend over Wuhan. Both factors result in obvious but different diurnal variations of f o F 2 / h m F 2 long‐term trends. The geomagnetic field effect is nonlinear versus years since the long‐term variation of geomagnetic field intensity and orientation is complex. Mean value of f o F 2 and h m F 2 trend is (−0.0021 MHz/yr, −0.106 km/yr) and (−0.0022 MHz/yr, −0.0763 km/yr) for observation and simulation, respectively. Regarding the diurnal variation of the trend, the simulation accords well with that of observation except h m F 2 results around 12 UT. Overall, good agreement between observation and simulation illustrates the good quality of Wuhan ionosonde long‐term data and the validity of ancient ionosphere reconstruction based on realistic indices driving simulation.