MSIS-86 (Mass Spectrometer - Incoherent Scatter) Model of the Upper Atmosphere

This is an empirical model of the temperature and composition of the atmosphere at heights between 85 and 700km. It is based on mass spectrometer data from various satellites and on incoherent scatter radar data from several sites. Full details are given in the paper by A E Hedin which was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol 92, pages 4649-4662 (May 1987).

The program implemented here allows you to supply a range and step size for either latitude, longitude, height or time. The values for the non-varying parameters are taken from the minimum for each of the other parameters.

The geomagnetic and solar conditions can be specified in one of two ways:

• by choosing a date, in which case the necessary values of Ap and solar radio flux are retrieved from the WDC C1 databases for that day, or
• by giving values for Ap, the 3-month mean of F10.7 and the daily value of F10.7.

The program produces for each time, altitude, latitude, longitude a table giving temperature, densities for N₂, O, He, A, O₂, H, N, and total mass density.