A Data Assimilated Regional Ionosphere Model Using the Total Electron Content from the Korean GPS Network

In this study, we develop a time-dependent three-dimensional regional ionosphere model over the Korean peninsula (32° N - 42° N, 122° E - 132° E, and 100 - 1000 km in altitude) by using data assimilation technique. Slant total electron content (STEC) data from 80 global positioning system (GPS) receiver stations on the Korean peninsula are assimilated into International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2016 as a background model. The assimilated results are validated with independent sources of electron density information: 1) GPS STEC not used in the assimilation and 2) f o F2 and bottom side electron density profiles from two ionosondes. Results show that data assimilation estimates the observations with a 3 - 41% improvement over the climatic IRI 2016 model.