Comparison of Ionospheric Total Electron Content Measurements with IRI- 2012 Model Predictions Over Athens

Total Electron Content measurements derived from Athens station ionograms (ITEC), located near Iraq, during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 (July 2009- April 2010), according to availability of data, are compared with the latest version of the International Reference Ionosphere model, IRI-2012 (IRI TEC), using two options (NeQuick, IRI01- Corr) for topside electron density. The results obtained from both (ITEC and IRI TEC) techniques were similar, where correlation coefficients between them are very high. Generally, the IRI predictions overestimate the ITEC values.