Modeling of the ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm of March 22, 1979

Diurnal variations in the electron density at the F2-region maximum during the March 22, 1979, storm have been calculated on the basis of a model of the high-latitude ionosphere. The modeling has been carried out, first, taking into account the real distributions of the magnetospheric sources obtained using the magnetogram inversion technique (MIT) and, second, by specifying the electric potential and characteristics of the precipitation on the basis of empirical models using real variations in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) components and K-p index. It has been noted that an increased accuracy in describing the parameters of the neutral atmosphere based on empirical or theoretical models is required for investigating the response of the midlatitude ionosphere to magnetic storms. It has been shown that the daily variation in the electron density at auroral and polar latitudes, calculated using the magnetospheric parameters determined according to MIT, is closer to observations than that calculated using the empirical models. The obtained results show that it is important to correctly determine electric fields and precipitation characteristics at high latitudes when modeling the ionospheric response to a magnetospheric storm.