AUTOSCALA software improvements: topside-plasmasphere profiles and TEC model assisted by AIS ionosonde measurements

The group of Upper Atmosphere Physics at INGV (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) developed Autoscala, a computer program for automatic scaling of the critical frequency foF2 and other ionospheric parameters derived from ionograms. Autoscala includes a routine that automatically estimates the electron density profile below F layer peak height hmF2, by adjusting the parameters of a model according to the recorded ionogram [Scotto (2009)]. Recently we have introduced a new algorithm for modeling upper ionosphere and plasmasphere electron density profiles following the approach suggested by Kutiev et al. (2009). In particular, these model uses the parameters of F layer peak (foF2, hmF2, scale height at hmF2) to obtain scale heights that are useful to construct H- and O+ density profiles, and consequently N(h) profile (given as the sum of the former two). Integrating electron density profiles we are then able to obtain a real time TEC estimation above the considered ionospheric station. A first validation of the model is carried out for data measured at Rome ionospheric station (Italy, 41°54' N 12°28' E) using independent TEC measurements from GPS receivers. References: Scotto, C. (2009). Electron density profile calculation technique for Autoscala ionogram analysis. Advances in Space Research, 44(6), 756-766. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2009.04.037 Kutiev, I., Marinov, P., Belehaki, a., Reinisch, B., & Jakowski, N. (2009). Reconstruction of topside density profile by using the topside sounder model profiler and digisonde data. Advances in Space Research, 43(11), 1683-1687. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2008.08.017