The global statistical median behavior of the electron temperature (T_e) in the topside ionosphere was investigated through in-situ data collected by Langmuir Probes on-board the European Space Agency Swarm satellites constellation from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2020. This is the first time that such an analysis, based on such a large time window, has been carried out globally, encompassing more than half a solar cycle, from the activity peak of 2014 to the minimum of 2020. The results show that Swarm data can help in understanding the main features of T_e in the topside ionosphere in a way never achieved before. T_e data measured by Swarm satellites were also compared to data modeled by the empirical climatological International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and data measured by Jicamarca (12.0°S, 76.8°W), Arecibo (18.2°N, 66.4°W), and Millstone Hill (42.6°N, 71.5°W) Incoherent Scatter Radars (ISRs). Moreover, the correction of Swarm T_e data recently proposed by Lomidze was applied and evaluated. These analyses were performed for two main reasons: (1) to understand how the IRI model deviates from the measurements; and (2) to test the reliability of the Swarm dataset as a new possible dataset to be included in the underlying empirical dataset layer of the IRI model. The results show that the application of the Lomidze correction improved the agreement with ISR data above all at mid latitudes and during daytime, and it was effective in reducing the mismatch between Swarm and IRI T_e values. This suggests that future developments of the IRI T_e model should include the Swarm dataset with the Lomidze correction. However, the existence of a quasi-linear relation between measured and modeled T_e values was well verified only below about 2200 K, while for higher values it was completely lost. This is an important result that IRI T_e model developers should properly consider when using the Swarm dataset.

Electron density (N_e) and electron temperature (T_e) observations collected by Langmuir Probes on board the European Space Agency (ESA) Swarm B satellite are used to characterize their correlation in the topside ionosphere at an altitude of about 500 km. Spearman correlation coefficient values (R_Spearman) are calculated on joint probability distributions between N_e and T_e for selected conditions. The large data set of Swarm B observations at 2‐Hz rate, covering the years 2014–2022, allowed investigating the correlation properties of the topside ionospheric plasma on a global scale, for different diurnal and seasonal conditions, with both a coverage and a detail never reached before. Results are given as maps of R_Spearman as a function of the Quasi‐Dipole (QD) magnetic latitude and magnetic local time (MLT) coordinates. The characterization of the correlation at high latitudes, along with the description of the diurnal trend at all latitudes, are the new findings of this study. The main correlation features point out a negative correlation at the morning overshoot, during daytime at mid latitudes, and during nighttime at the ionospheric trough and subauroral latitudes. Conversely, a positive correlation dominates the nighttime hours at mid and low latitudes and, to a minor extent, the low latitudes from 09 MLT onwards. A seasonal dependence of the correlation is noticeable only at very high latitudes where the general pattern of the negative correlation does not hold around ±75° QD latitude in the summer season. Results from Swarm B have been statistically compared and discussed with observations from the Arecibo, Jicamarca, and Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radars.

This study presents a suggestion for improvement of the ion temperature (Ti) model in the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). We have re-examined ion temperature data (primarily available from NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF)from older satellites and combined them with newly available data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), the Communication Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), and from the recently launched Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON). We have compiled these data into a unified database comprising in total Ti data from 18 satellites. By comparisons with long term records of ion temperature from the three incoherent scatter radars (ISRs) (Jicamarca, Arecibo, and Millstone Hill), it was found that an intercalibration is needed to achieve consistency with the ISR data and among individual satellite data sets. This database with thus corrected data has been used for the development of a new global empirical model of Ti with inclusion of solar activity variation. This solar activity dependence is represented by an additive correction term to the Ti global pattern. Due to the limited data coverage at altitudes above 1000 km, the altitude range described by the model ranges from 350 km to 850 km covering only the region where generally Ti is higher than the neutral temperature (Tn) and lower than the electron temperature (Te). This approach is consistent with the current description of Ti in the IRI model. However, instead of one anchor point at 430 km altitude as in the current IRI, our approach includes anchor points at 350, 430, 600, and 850 km. At altitudes above 850 km Ti is merged using a gradient derived from the model at 600 and 850 km, with the electron temperature described by the IRI-2016/TBT-2012 option. Comparisons with the ISR data (Jicamarca, Arecibo, Millstone Hill, and Kharkiv) for high and low solar activity and equinox show that the proposed Ti model captures local time variation of Ti at different altitudes and latitudes better than the current IRI-2016 Ti model.

This study focuses on the open question of the electron temperature (T_e) variation with solar activity in the topside ionosphere at mid- and high latitudes. It takes advantage of in situ observations taken over a decade (2014–2023) from Langmuir probes on board the low-Earth-orbit Swarm B satellite and spanning an altitude range of 500–530 km. The study also includes a comparison with T_e values modeled using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and with Millstone Hill (42.6° N. 71.5° W) incoherent scatter radar observations. The largest T_e variation with solar activity was found at high latitudes in the winter season, where T_e shows a marked decreasing trend with solar activity in the polar cusp and auroral regions and, more importantly, at sub-auroral latitudes in the nightside sector. Differently, in the summer season, T_e increases with solar activity in the polar cusp and auroral regions, while for equinoxes, variations are smaller and less clear. Mid-latitudes generally show negligible T_e variations with solar activity, which are mostly within the natural dispersion of T_e observations. The comparison between measured and modeled values highlighted that future implementations of the IRI model would benefit from an improved description of the T_e dependence on solar activity, especially at high latitudes.