TY - JOUR
T1 - The International Reference Ionosphere Model
T2 - A Review and Description of an Ionospheric Benchmark
AU - Bilitza, Dieter
AU - Pezzopane, Michael
AU - Truhlik, Vladimir
AU - Altadill, David
AU - Reinisch, Bodo W.
AU - Pignalberi, Alessio
N1 - Funding Information:
Model assessment studies undertaken by independent and impartial evaluators highlighted IRI's excellent performance. Shim et al. ( 2011 , 2012 ) were tasked with a systematic assessment of ionosphere/thermosphere models in the framework of the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Out of the eight models included in the study, IRI was the only empirical model, the others were theoretical models. The analysis considered F2 and F2 from ionosondes and COSMIC RO and electron density along the CHAMP orbit for several event periods using a variety of performance measures and skill scores. IRI was the clear overall winner. Shim et al. ( 2017 , 2018 ) continued their model assessment effort with the storms that occurred on 14–15 December 2006 (American Geophysical Union storm event) and on 17 March 2013, respectively. Data used for these two studies were ionosonde and GPS vTEC measurements. The results showed that the IRI model is on par with the best theoretical and assimilative models in predicting F2. Nm hm fo
Funding Information:
A special thank you and acknowledgement goes to the members of the COSPAR/URSI Working Group on the International Reference Ionosphere. They have contributed to the success and continuous improvement of the model. A. Pignalberi was partially supported by the Italian MIUR‐Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale Grant 2017APKP7T on Circumterrestrial Environment: Impact of Sun–Earth Interaction. V. Truhlik was supported by Grant LTAUSA17100 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. The IRI homepage at http://irimodel.org provides open access to the FORTRAN model code of all major version of the model, to online computations of IRI parameters, and to information about IRI members, workshops, and publications. The authors thank Michael Mendillo and two additional anonymous reviewers for their valuable inputs.
Funding Information:
A special thank you and acknowledgement goes to the members of the COSPAR/URSI Working Group on the International Reference Ionosphere. They have contributed to the success and continuous improvement of the model. A. Pignalberi was partially supported by the Italian MIUR-Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale Grant 2017APKP7T on Circumterrestrial Environment: Impact of Sun–Earth Interaction. V. Truhlik was supported by Grant LTAUSA17100 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. The IRI homepage at http://irimodel.org provides open access to the FORTRAN model code of all major version of the model, to online computations of IRI parameters, and to information about IRI members, workshops, and publications. The authors thank Michael Mendillo and two additional anonymous reviewers for their valuable inputs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Authors.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - This paper is a review of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) project and model. IRI is recognized as the official standard for the Earth's ionosphere by the International Standardization Organization, the International Union of Radio Science, the Committee on Space Research, and the European Cooperation for Space Standardization. As requested by these organizations, IRI is an empirical (data-based) model representing the primary ionospheric parameters based on the long data record that exists from ground and space observations of the ionosphere. The core model describes monthly averages of the electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, and ion composition globally in the altitude range from 60 to 2,000 km. Over time additional parameters were added in response to requests from the user community, this includes the equatorial ion drift, the occurrence probability of spread-F and of an F1 layer, auroral boundaries and the electron content from the bottom of the ionosphere to user-specified altitude. IRI has undergone extensive validations and is used for a wide range of applications in science, engineering, and education. This review is the result of many requests we have received for a comprehensive description of the model. It is also meant as a guide for users who are interested in a deeper understanding of the model architecture and its mathematical formalism.
AB - This paper is a review of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) project and model. IRI is recognized as the official standard for the Earth's ionosphere by the International Standardization Organization, the International Union of Radio Science, the Committee on Space Research, and the European Cooperation for Space Standardization. As requested by these organizations, IRI is an empirical (data-based) model representing the primary ionospheric parameters based on the long data record that exists from ground and space observations of the ionosphere. The core model describes monthly averages of the electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, and ion composition globally in the altitude range from 60 to 2,000 km. Over time additional parameters were added in response to requests from the user community, this includes the equatorial ion drift, the occurrence probability of spread-F and of an F1 layer, auroral boundaries and the electron content from the bottom of the ionosphere to user-specified altitude. IRI has undergone extensive validations and is used for a wide range of applications in science, engineering, and education. This review is the result of many requests we have received for a comprehensive description of the model. It is also meant as a guide for users who are interested in a deeper understanding of the model architecture and its mathematical formalism.
KW - IRI
KW - ISO
KW - ionosphere
KW - review
KW - standard
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141751639&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2022RG000792
DO - 10.1029/2022RG000792
M3 - Review
AN - SCOPUS:85141751639
SN - 8755-1209
VL - 60
JO - Reviews of Geophysics
JF - Reviews of Geophysics
IS - 4
M1 - e2022RG000792
ER -