Global Empirical Model of the TEC Response to Geomagnetic Activity and Forcing from Below

The high sensitivity of the ionosphere to the external forcing related to changes in solar EUV and UV radiation and geomagnetic activity, and the continuous action of the lower atmospheric forcing, as the wave forcing particularly effective during low solar activity conditions, causes significant ionospheric variability on different time and spatial scales. To understand and forecast such variability is the main tasks of space weather research. Such task can be solved by building of ionospheric models which play an important role in specifying the ionospheric environment as realistically as possible. The total electron content (TEC) has received a great deal of attention recently, because it is a key parameter related to the phase delay effects on the signals of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The ionospheric effect is the largest error source in GNSS positioning, timing and navigation.
The original document contains color images.