A new empirical climatological model of ionospheric foF2 and hmF2 and review of the International Reference Ionosphere

Abstract

This thesis presents Mocha, a new empirical climatological monthly median and variance model of two ionospheric parameters viz. foF2 and hmF2. Understanding ionospheric variance is important for assessing the climatological performance of systems which use trans-ionospheric paths such as satellite navigation systems, or utilise the refractive properties of the ionosphere to propagate high frequency radio waves long distances such as over-the-horizon radar (OTHR). Additionally, this thesis provides a global review of the International Reference Ionosphere 2016 (IRI2016) foF2 and hm2 models. IRI is an widely used, industry standard, global empirical climatological monthly median model of the ionosphere. Mocha produces slightly more accurate foF2 predictions and significantly more accurate hmF2 predictions than IRI. It also outputs the variance in these parameters which is not currently produced by IRI. Mocha is intended to be used in conjunction with IRI: its foF2 and hmF2 output parameters may be input directly into IRI overriding IRI's internal model of these parameters.