Comparisons of the Performances of Geospace and Weimer driven WAM-IPE for Predicting the Global Ionospheric Responses to the Geomagnetic Storm on March 17, 2015

The Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) predicts global neutral wind circulation. The model is coupled with Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (IPE) model. It is a three dimensional, global, time dependent model for characterizing the electrodynamics of ionosphere and thermosphere. The present paper reports the affectivities of Michigan Geospace Model (MGM) and Weimer model as the magnetospheric drivers for the coupled WAM-IPE model. The potential intensities of Geospace are higher than those from Weimer during the St. Patrick's Day geomagnetic storm on March 17, 2015. The global TEC is better predicted by Geospace driven WAM-IPE than Weimer driven WAM-IPE. The zonal plasma drifts from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) is also compared with the Geospace and Weimer driven WAM-IPE on that day. This is found that Geospace driven WAM-IPE overestimates the drifts in majority of cases at the DMSP altitudes. The Weimer driven WAM-IPE underestimates the drifts during the same period.