Multiple-site comparisons between models of incoherent scatter radar and IRI Original Research Article

Long-term databases of multiple incoherent scatter radars (ISRs) are used to create local empirical models at seven ISR sites including, from magnetic north to south and east to west, EISCAT Svalbard Radar (Norway), Sondrestrom Radar (Greenland), EISCAT TromsøRadars (Norway), Millstone Hill Radar (USA), St. Santin Radar (France), Shigaraki Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU) Radar (Japan) and Arecibo Radar (Puerto Rico). As local models, they can represent some features that may be smeared out in a global model, and are important complements to and validation tools for global models such as IRI. This paper presents comparisons between these ISR models and IRI for median solar activity and quiet magnetic activity conditions, with focus on daytime height variations for electron density, ion and electron temperatures.