Performance evaluation of AfriTEC model during quiet and disturbed time over East African sector

This paper presents a performance evaluation of the African Regional Ionospheric Total Electron Content (AfriTEC) model during both quiet and disturbed conditions from the solar maximum year of 2014 and the solar minimum year of 2009 in the East African sector. The analysis was conducted using data from GPS receivers with IGSS stations located at (geographic lat and long: for ADIS 9.03oN 38.76oE, BDMT 11.6oN 37.35oE, MOIU 0.28oN 35.29oE, MAL2 -2.99oS 40.19oE, DODM -6.17oS 35.75oE and MBAR 0.60oS 30.65oE). The AfriTEC model provides output data in folder, which is consistent with the derived GPS-TEC data. Geomagnetic indices data of Kp values ranging from 0 to 4.2 for 2014 and from 0 to 3 for 2009 and Dst index value between 20 to -65 for 2014 and 2009 year its value ranging 10 to -50 nT were obtained from the OMNIWEB data source. The monthly, seasonal, and diurnal characteristics of AfriTEC estimates for the equatorial and low latitudinal region's ionosphere are validated by using RMSE and MAE. The MAE is typically greater than 1.3 for all stations, indicating a strong correlation between the observations and related predictions. The paper also discusses the validation of the AfriTEC ionospheric model to ensure its accuracy and reliability under both quiet and disturbed conditions in the East African region.