Volume : 3, Issue : 4, April - 2014

Ionospheric Empirical Mathematical Formula to Forecast the Critical Frequency of F2–layer over Athen

Khalid A. Hadi, Aqeel Z. Azeez, Athra D. Khudher, Renda A. Nasir

Abstract :

 In the present work, the variation of the ionospheric critical frequency of the F2–layer (f_oF2) has been studied over Athens city. The real–time digisonde dataset of the national observatory of Athens which is represented one of the most advanced European real–time ionospheric stations has been analysised for the monthly period of the years (2011, 2012, 2013). An analytical investigation has been conducted for the 12 months of the studied years.  Depending on the results of this study, the correlation relationship between the monthly median values of f_oF2 and hourly time factor have been expressed as an empirical mathematical formula which  represented by a forth order polynomial regression. The predicted values that were generated from the suggested formula and IRI model gave a good fitting with the observational digisonde data for all years. Also, the correlation coefficient (R²) values that were obtained from studying the correlation between the predict values and the observed data presented a very good correlation between each other. As a result of this study, the suggested mathematical formula can predicted a more accurate, simple, and reliable values than that calculated using other theoretical models