Ionospheric peak height behavior for low, middle and high latitudes: A potential empirical model for quiet conditions-Comparison with the IRI-2007 model

The quiet behavior of the ionospheric electron density peak height of the F2 region, hmF2, at different latitudes has been evaluated for different seasons and solar activity levels and compared with the prediction of the International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI). The results show clear disagreements of the IRI prediction compared to the experimental behavior. Though IRI prediction agrees reasonably well with the experimental values of the hmF2 for mid-latitudes, this model may underestimate the equatorial values as low as -40% of the experimental ones and it may overestimate the hmF2 by 30% at high latitudes. Preliminary models based on Fourier analysis performed better than IRI for high and low latitudes and they may reduce the deviations by a 23% and 40%, respectively, compared to the deviations of the IRI prediction.