A climatological model of the ionospheric foF2 and hmF2 covariance for OTHR

Ionospheric models are used extensively to understand how the ionosphere affects radio wave propagation, and how this impacts radar, satellite communications and navigation systems.Most widely used models either provide a monthly median model of the ionosphere or ingest realtime data to provide a real-time model.In this paper, work to incorporate ionospheric variability into monthly median models is presented.This is done through the development of a global covariance model of the critical frequency (foF2) and the height of the peak electron density (hmF2) of the ionospheric F2 layer.A method of incorporating this into over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) modelling is then presented.