SAIP2025

Modelling and observation results for the 23-25 March 2023 geomagnetic storm

Not scheduled

20m

Solomon Mahlangu House (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)

Oral Presentation Astrophysics & Space Science

Speaker

John Bosco Habarulema (South African National Space Agency)

Description

This talk will present results of ionospheric changes during the 23-25 March 2023 geomagnetic
storm using observational and modeling data over the African-European sector. Both ionosonde
and Swarm observational results show that mid latitudes experienced negative storm effects which
have been attributed to thermospheric composition changes. We use models to simulate the ionospheric
behavior during this storm period. Considered models were Thermosphere Ionosphere
Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) and the three-dimensional storm time empirical
model (3D-NNstorm) constructed based on radio occultation and ionosonde data. For the
maximum electron density of the F2 layer, TIE-GCM and 3D-NNstorm models provide correlation
values ranging between 0.48-0.64 and 0.64-0.88, respectively, with lower performance observed at
low latitudes.