Comparison of the QBO and F10.7 Solar Flux Effects on Total Mass Density

Abstract

The comparison of the Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and F10.7 solar flux effects on Total Mass Density (TMD) obtained from NRLMSIS-00 model for 90 km altitude of ionosphere known as Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region was made statistically. In the results of calculations, it was observed that QBO and F10.7 solar flux have an effect on TMD. It was determined that about 69% of the variations in TMD could be explained by F10.7 and QBO. Also, it was seen that an increase/a decrease of 1 meter per second occurred in QBO gave rise to an increase/a decrease of 2.36 × 10^–9 kg/m³ in TMD while an increase/a decrease of 1 s.f.u. in F10.7 gave rise to a decrease/increase of 1.02 × 10^–9 kg/m³ in TMD. Based on these results, it was observed that the effects of stratospheric QBO, which is one of the meteorological processes, and F10.7, which is one of the indicators of the solar processes, were nearly at the same rate on TMD of MLT region. Furthermore, the results show that the stratospheric QBO may be a suitable candidate for increasing the anomalous density reductions observed in TMD.