A Comparative Investigation of Different Ionospheric Models to Predict the MUF Parameter During Severe Geomagnetic Storm on 17th March 2015.

The present work aimed to make a comparative investigation between three different ionospheric models: IRI-2020, ASAPS and VOACAP. The purpose of the comparative study is to investigate the compatibility of predicting the Maximum Usable Frequency parameter (MUF) over mid-latitude region during the severe geomagnetic storm on 17 March 2015. Three stations distributed in the mid-latitudes were selected for study; these are (Athens (23.50o E, 38.00o N), Jeju (124.53o E, 33.6o N) and Pt. Arguello (239.50o W, 34.80o N). The daily MUF outcomes were calculated using the tested models for the three adopted sites, for a span of five-day (the day of the event and two days preceding and following the event day). The calculated datasets were compared for each location with the observed daily MUF values. In general, the findings show that the three investigated models gave good outcomes compared to the observed values for all selected stations. The comparative investigation results of the three tested models corresponding to the observed MUF values during the storm event revealed that the IRI -2020 Model indicate a clear impact of the geomagnetic storm on the predicted MUF values during the day of event. Similarly, for ASAPS Model, the storm's impact is clear on both the day of the event and the subsequent day, in contrast, the VOACAP model showed almost no impact of the geomagnetic storm on the observed MUF values throughout the entire study period for event 17 March 2015.