Toward More Effective Comparison of Measured and Modeled Ionospheric Data Using Madrigal During the International Polar Year
Abstract
The International Polar Year is associated with an unprecedented increase in the measurement and modeling of the polar ionosphere. This has opened the opportunity to dramatically improve the quality of the models and the underlying physical understanding, allowing improved now-casting and forecasting of the ionosphere. The Madrigal database is the traditional database used for distributing upper atmospheric data, and is used by all the incoherent scatter radar sites. The Madrigal database has also been shown to be an effective tool for distributing modeling data. One critical issue in improving models through comparison with measurements is the non-standard data products presently used by the varying incoherent scatter radars. While the parameters measured are standard, the spatial and temporal cadences of the measurements often vary widely, even for a given incoherent scatter radar. While there are various technical and scientific reasons for these variations, they do make the comparison to model runs much more difficult. In this work we discuss a higher level data product that all incoherent scatter radars can produce. This higher level product would not contain all the information in the standard products of each incoherent scatter radar, but should include all the capabilities shared by all the radars. Our experience developing a prototype of such a data product here at Millstone Hill will be discussed, along with a discussion of how this higher level data product can be distributed via the Madrigal database and more easily compared with model runs.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFMIN51A0112R
- Keywords:
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- 0525 Data management;
- 2494 Instruments and techniques