Testing of the Method Retrieving a Consistent Set of Aeronomic Parameters With Millstone Hill ISR Noontime hmF2 Observations

Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar (ISR) noontime
$h_{\mathrm {m}}\text{F}_{2}$
observations in the (2000–2016) period have been used to test the thermospheric parameters from ionosonde observations (THERION) method. The input parameters apart from the standard indices of solar F
_10.7
and geomagnetic
$A_{\mathrm {p}}$
activity include noontime
$f_{o}\text{F}_{2}$
and plasma frequency at 180-km height read from the
$f_{p}(h)$
height profiles scaled from the ionograms with the Autoscala program. The THERION method provides a self-consistent set of the main aeronomic parameters responsible for the mid-latitude daytime ionospheric F-region formation,
$h_{\mathrm {m}}\text{F}_{2}$
in particular. Overall, 60 dates under various solar and geomagnetic activity levels have been used for the analysis. The retrieved
$h_{\mathrm {m}}\text{F}_{2}$
values demonstrate a standard deviation of 10.6 km, and this is close to the expected inaccuracy of
$h_{\mathrm {m}}\text{F}_{2}$
determination with the Millstone Hill ISR. The correlation coefficient between the retrieved and the observed
$h_{\mathrm {m}}\text{F}_{2}$
is 0.937 ± 0.051, which is significant at the confidence level >99.9%. The undertaken analysis has confirmed the earlier obtained conclusion on the possibility to extract the main aeronomic parameters from the routine ionosonde observations with the THERION method.