The First Comparison Between Swarm‐C Accelerometer‐Derived Thermospheric Densities and Physical and Empirical Model Estimates

First systematic comparison between Swarm-C accelerometer-derived thermospheric density against both empirical and physics-based model results using multiple model performance metrics is presented. This comparison is performed at the satellite's high temporal resolution, which provides a meaningful evaluation of the models' fidelity for orbit prediction and other space weather forecasting applications. The comparison against the physical model is influenced by the specification of the lower atmospheric forcing, the high-latitude ionospheric plasma convection and solar activity. A machine-learning exercise is also used to isolate the impact of thermosphere-driving mechanisms. The results show that the short-timescale variations observed by Swarm-C during periods of high solar and geomagnetic activity were better captured by the physics-based model as compared to the empirical model in this analysis. It is concluded that Swarm-C data agree well with the climatologies inherent within the models, and is, therefore, a useful dataset for further model validation and scientific research.