Latitudinal variation of the topside electron temperature at different levels of solar activity Original Research Article

A database of electron temperature (Te) measurements comprising of most of the available satellite measurements in the topside ionosphere is used for studying the solar activity variations of the electron temperature Te at different latitudes, altitudes, local times and seasons. The Te data are grouped into three levels of solar activity (low, medium, high) at four altitude ranges, for day and night, and for equinox and solstices. We find that in general Te changes with solar activity are small and comparable in magnitude with seasonal changes but much smaller than the changes with altitude, latitude, and from day to night. In all cases, except at low altitude during daytime, Te increases with increasing solar activity. But this increase is not linear as assumed in most empirical Te models but requires at least a parabolic approximation. At 550 km during daytime negative as well as positive correlation is found with solar activity. Our global data base allows to quantify the latitude range and seasonal conditions for which these correlations occur. A negative correlation with solar activity is found in the invdip latitude range from 20 to 55 degrees during equinox and from 20 degrees onward during winter. In the low latitude (20 to −20 degrees invdip) F-region there is almost no change with solar activity during solstice and a positive correlation during equinox. A positive correlation is also observed during summer from 30 degrees onward.