Ionization distribution in the F2 layer during the March 16-20 and December 5-10, 1988 SUNDIAL campaign intervals, and its comparison with an empirical high latitude model ionosphere

Results of coordinated vertical ionization measurements in the F2 layer made during the SUNDIAL March 16-20 and December 5-10, 1988 campaign periods are compared with the values of maximal electron concentrations estimated using an empirical high-latitude model ionosphere described by Besprozvannaia (1986). It is shown that, for both the daytime and the nighttime hours, the average error of the model did not exceed 10-30 percent. However, during nighttime, large differences were occasionally encountered between the experimental and the model values, attributed to faulty determinations of the position and the configuration of the main ionospheric trough.