Global Ionospheric Electron Density Estimation Based on Multisource TEC Data Assimilation

We developed a parameterized ionospheric electron density model based on the IRI-2012 model by spherical harmonic expansions in the horizontal and empirical orthogonal functions in the vertical. Then, after assimilating the monthly multisource total electron content (TEC) data from ground-based GPS, LEO radio occultation (RO), and the oceanic altimeter during magnetically quiet time into the model, we reanalyzed the monthly global ionospheric electron density TEC and other key parameters such as foF2 and NmF2. Both the reanalyzed and IRI-2012 model results were compared to the TEC measurements, the monthly median foF2 in a middle-latitude ionosonde station, and the global TEC map from CODE. The comparisons showed that both the reanalyzed and IRI results are consistent with those observations and the reanalyzed results perform better than the IRI model. Furthermore, the reanalyzed results are also consistent with the retrieved maps of HmF2, NmF2, and TEC from COSMIC RO observations. In summary, our method can reanalyze the global TEC and electron density using multisource TEC data assimilated into our model and improve the performance of IRI model.