Realistic Ionosphere: Real-Time Ionosonde Service for UN International Space Weather Initiative

Realistic Ionosphere (RI) is a part of the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI), a cooperative program of United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. RI is an ISWI instrument suite dedicated to continuing, accurate, and prompt nowcast of the 3D global plasma density distribution in the subpeak ionosphere of the Earth, based on the real-time data feeds from a global network of ionosondes with installations in 26 countries. The RI suite includes several remote sensing, modeling, and computer science components, including Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO) and an online data processing and dissemination center with an open data portal at http://giro.uml.edu. The paper summarizes ionospheric weather services provided by the RI project.