Variability of ionospheric parameters by the Swarm satellites for different solar activity

The use of satellite data allows us to study the variability of ionospheric plasma parameters globally without references to ground stations or receivers in different regions of the Earth. The Swarm mission, which was launched in 2014 and is still operational, allows us to investigate the effects of decreasing solar activity on the ionospheric variability. In our study we use the Swarm in-situ measurements of the electron density and derived parameters. This dataset provides characteristics of the plasma variability along the orbit and gives information on plasma density structures in the ionosphere in terms of their amplitudes, gradients and spatial scales. We analyze the variability of these parameters in the contexts of the northern and southern hemispheres, specific latitudinal regions, and the solar activity level. Understanding of the distribution of such parameters in the context of the solar activity level and selected ionospheric regions can have implications for the development of new satellite instruments and for the accuracy of GNSS precise positioning.