SOLAR ACTIVITY VARIATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON IONOSPHERIC ION DENSITIES

Аннотация

As the Sun progresses through its solar cycle and its activity increases, a greater number of sunspots occur, and solar fluxes become more intense. The change in solar activity is related to the change in electron and ion density of the ionosphere. Studying this relation is very important in terms of space plasma studies and space weather predictions, which play a significant role in radio and satellite communication as well as GPS navigation. In this paper, we are presenting the sunspot and solar flux data for solar cycle 24 (year 2008-2020). We are using C/NOFS satellite data to understand the variation of ion densities of the upper atmosphere with solar cycle 24. Our analysis shows decrease of H+ density by a factor of 10 and increase of O+ density by a factor of 10 during solar maxima. This data set can be used as a framework for future advancement in empirical modelling of regional and global ion density of the ionosphere. KEYWORDS Solar cycle, Ion density, Ionosphere, Solar flux, Sunspot.