Performance of NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2017 Models during Solar Maximum Years in 2013-2014 over Equatorial and Low Latitude Regions

This paper carries out a comparative investigation of the Total Electron Content (TEC) values calculated by using the NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2017 models. The investigation was carried out for the solar maximum year of 2013-2014 with data from eight GPS stations within the equatorial and low latitude regions. The results show that both models agree quite well with the observed TEC values obtained from GPS measurements in all the stations, although with some overestimations and underestimations observed during the daytime and nighttime hours. The NeQuick-2 model, in general, performed better in months, seasons, and in most of the stations when the IRI-Plas overestimates the GPS-TEC. However, it is interesting to know that with an increase in solar activity in some seasons, the quality of forecasting IRI-Plas can improve, whereas for the NeQuick-2 model, it decreases, but this is not true for all the seasons and all the stations. Factors causing the discrepancies in the IRI-Plas data model might be caused by the plasmaspheric part included in the IRI, and it is found to be maximum at the MBAR (34%) station, whereas that of the NeQuick-2 data model is found to be maximum at the ADIS (47.7%) station. There is a latitudinal dependence for both models in which the prediction error decreases with the increasing latitudes.

Automated summary

This paper conducts a comparative investigation of the Total Electron Content (TEC) values obtained from the NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2017 models. The results show that both models exhibit good agreement with the observed TEC values from GPS measurements, although there are some overestimations and underestimations during certain times of the day. The NeQuick-2 model generally performs better and shows improvement in certain seasons and stations when compared to the IRI-Plas model. However, the quality of forecasting for both models can be influenced by solar activity and varies across seasons and stations. There is also a latitudinal dependence for both models in which the prediction error decreases with increasing latitudes.