BEHAVIOR OF THE IONOSPHERE AND THERMOSPHERE AT A SOUTHERN MIDLATITUDESTATION DURING MAGNETIC STORMS IN EARLY MARCH 1995

During the first six days of March 1995, measurements of the ionospher ic electron density were made near Melbourne, Australia, with a digiso nde and thermospheric winds, temperatures, and 6300-Angstrom emission rates were measured with a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The ionograms w ere inverted to obtain electron density profiles and peak heights of t he F2 layer (h(m)F(2)). This paper compares modeled and measured elect ron densities, airglow emission rates, and neutral temperatures. The m easured peak electron density shows strong negative effects from magne tic storms and rapid recovery to normal levels afterward. The model da ytime peak density is in good agreement with the measurements on the u ndisturbed days and also shows negative phases at the appropriate time s. However, the model negative effects are not as strong as the measur ed negative effects. A new algorithm is introduced to bring the measur ed and modeled peak electron density into better agreement by adjustin g the exospheric Tn and atomic oxygen density in the MSIS model. The m odified Tn at 300 km altitude agrees reasonably well with both the sta ndard MSIS model and the measured Tn before midnight local time. Howev er, the modified Tn, like the measured Tn, has a tendency to increase after about 2200 LT. At night, adjustments to the MSIS model exospheri c temperature and atomic oxygen density are generally small. There is reasonably good agreement between the relative variations of the measu red and modeled emission rates. However, there is much more variabilit y in the model intensities than in the measured intensities as a resul t of rapid movements in the height of the n layer.