2001/03/01 by D. Bilitza · 1,405 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Committee on Space Research #Computational physics #Earthquake Detection and Analysis #Electron #Electron density #GNSS positioning and interference #Geophysics #International Reference Ionosphere #Ionosphere #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Nuclear physics #Physics #Political science #Representation (politics) #Total electron content
paper · doi:10.1029/2000rs002432
published in Radio Science 36(2), 261-275 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2001/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) is the international standard for the specification of ionospheric densities and temperatures. It was developed and is being improved‐updated by a joint working group of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). A new version of IRI is scheduled for release in the year 2000. This paper describes the most important changes compared to the current version of IRI: (1) an improved representation of the electron density in the region from the F peak down to the E peak including a better description of the F 1 layer occurrence statistics and a more realistic description of the low‐latitude bottomside thickness, (2) inclusion of a model for storm‐time conditions, (3) inclusion of an ion drift model, (4) two new options for the electron density in the D region, and (5) an improved model for the topside electron temperatures. The outcome of the most recent IRI Workshops (Kühlungsborn, 1997, and Nagoya, 1998) will be reviewed, and the status of several ongoing task force activities (e.g., efforts to improve the representation of electron and ion densities in the topside ionosphere and the inclusion of a plasmaspheric extension) will be discussed. A few typical IRI applications will be highlighted in section 6.