Global characteristics of the upper transition height derived from the topside Alouette/ISIS topside sounder electron density profiles, the Formosat-3/COSMIC density profiles and the IRI ion composition model

The upper transition height (Ht) (the altitude of the transition from heavy atomic ions to light ions or in the simplest form the transition from O+ to H+) is an important parameter, representing the boundary between the ionosphere and the plasmasphere. Ht is very sensitive to various geophysical parameters, like solar and magnetic activity and strongly depends on latitude and local time. There were numerous studies of this parameter in past decades. In spite of these efforts, no model satisfactorily represents this parameter so far. Moreover, surprising evidence of very low transition heights during the last prolonged solar minimum, of a level never obtained before, have been reported. We investigate the upper transition height on the global scale. We made progress in processing large data sets of Ht deduced from the Alouette/ISIS topside sounder and from the Formosat-3/COSMIC vertical electron-density profiles Ne(h) using the theoretical Global Plasma Ionosphere Density (GPID) model (Webb and Essex, 2004) and a revised non-linear function describing the scale height vs. altitude (Titheridge, 1976) to fit the vertical density profiles to the observed profiles and to determine the upper transition height. Since both methods require the plasma temperatures and their gradients as input, these are calculated using the IRI2012 model. Both methods are verified using a large amount of electron and ion density profiles simulated by the FLIP theoretical model and their accuracy is discussed. We compare the results from Alouette/ISIS and Formosat-3/COSMIC and present a global distribution of the calculated Ht and its dependence on geophysical parameters. Finally we compare it with Ht calculated using the IRI ion composition model. Titheridge, J.E., 1976. Ion Transition Heights from Topside Electron-Density Profiles. Planetary and Space Science 24 (3), 229-245. Webb, P.A., Essex, E.A., 2004. A dynamic global model of the plasmasphere. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 66 (12), 1057-1073.