Improved electron temperature model and comparison with satellite data Original Research Article

An empirical model of the global electron temperature (Te) distribution in the outer ionosphere (500 – 3000km) for the period of high solar activity based on data of three Intercosmos satellites (IK 19, IK 24, and IK 25) developed recently by Truhlík (2000) has been improved including second order influences (solar activity and possible seasonal asymmetries). The method of fitting deviations of the measured values from the individual submodels by lower order associated Legendre polynomials has been employed to describe these temporal variations. A new latitude coordinate combining the invariant latitude and the dip latitude has been introduced (so-called invdip). This improved global model has been compared with Te data from Dynamic Explorer-2 (DE-2) and Hinotori satellites (both from solar maximum) at altitudes of 600km and 900km. Model values are generally in standard deviation limits of both data sets but some individual discrepancies exist in the case of the DE-2 data.