Assessment of global ionospheric maps performance in the Brazilian region using ionosonde data

In this work, we present a new method for assessing global ionospheric maps (GIM) by means of ionosonde data. The method proposed is based on the critical frequency at the F₂ layer directly measured by pairs of ionosondes to assess VTEC (vertical total electron content) values from GIMs. Four strategies were investigated and, the best one was the linear interpolation of squared f_oF₂ based on the VTEC ratio. The analysis was based on the root mean square (RMS) of the differences between the measured and estimated f_oF₂ values at the first ionosonde from each pair. The f_oF₂ were estimated using the values measured at the second ionosonde and interpolated to the position of the first ionosonde with the VTEC values from the GIMs. Besides the RMS values, additional ionospheric indicators (slab thickness and shape function peak) were used to complement the daily analysis. This method was tested over one of the most challenging scenarios, the Brazilian region and near the last solar cycle peak. The assessment considered four ionosondes (combined in six pairs) and thirteen GIM products available at CDDIS (Crustal Dynamics Data Information System), CORG, CODG, EHRG, ESRG, ESAG, IGRG, IGSG, JPLG, UPRG, UPCG, UQRG, WHRG and WHUG. Analysis was conducted using daily, weekly, one year, and four years of data. The analysis with daily data showed that slab thickness and shape function peak could be helpful to identify periods and regions where this method could be applied. The weekly analysis was performed to select the best strategy to interpolate the f_oF₂ values. The analysis of one-year data (2015) was performed considering all GIMs previously mentioned. CODG, IGSG, JPLG, UQRG, WHRG, and WHUG provided the best results, with mean rates of improvement up to 42% in comparison to not using any GIM. The four-year time series (2014-2017) were analyzed considering the two products with better performance for the one-year analysis (CODG and UQRG). With data from 2014-2017, CODG and UQRG provided improvement rates of up to 49%. In general, regional and temporal ionospheric influences could be noticed in the results, with expected larger errors closer to the solar cycle peak in 2014 and at locations with pairs of ionosondes with the larger distance apart. Therefore, we have confirmed the viability of the developed approach as an assessment method to analyze GIMs quality based on ionosonde data.