Application of seamless vertical profiles for use in the topside electron density modeling Original Research Article

Modeling of the topside electron (ion) density profiles, usually done within the Booker formalism, greatly benefits from the recently introduced representation by the Chapman function with continuously varying scale height, dubbed a vary-Chap function. The vary-Chap function is capable of producing smooth and seamless altitude dependences from a variety of previously developed empirical models. This paper presents a successful project of using the vary-Chap function to obtain a seamless representation of the electron density profiles based on three global models; the IRI (International Reference Ionosphere) for the bottomside ionosphere and an empirical topside electron density model and an empirical upper transition height model. The results show the advantage of the proposed method and its potential for implementation in the IRI.