International Reference Ionosphere 2016: From ionospheric climate to real‐time weather predictions

TLDR

The paper aims to advance from climatology predictions to real‑time ionospheric weather forecasting by reviewing recent developments toward a Real‑Time IRI. IRI‑2016 introduces two new F2‑peak‑height options, improved topside ion‑density representation for extreme solar activity, and optimizations to solar‑index usage and computational speed.

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents the latest version of the International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI‐2016) describing the most important changes and improvements that were included with this version and discussing their impact on the IRI predictions of ionospheric parameters. IRI‐2016 includes two new model options for the F 2 peak height h m F 2 and a better representation of topside ion densities at very low and high solar activities. In addition, a number of smaller changes were made concerning the use of solar indices and the speedup of the computer program. We also review the latest developments toward a Real‐Time IRI. The goal is to progress from predicting climatology to describing the real‐time weather conditions in the ionosphere.