Short-term forecasting regional model to predict M(3000)F2 over the European sector: Comparisons with the IRI model during moderate, disturbed, and very disturbed geomagnetic conditions

The results showed that: (1) under moderate geomagnetic activity there are no significantly differences between STFRM and IRI performance because quiet geomagnetic conditions are not so diverse from moderate geomagnetic conditions; (2) under disturbed geomagnetic activity, performances of STFRM significantly better than IRI emerge only in some cases; (3) the STFRM's performances are always significantly better than those provided by IRI under very disturbed geomagnetic activity, consequently the operative use of the STFRM could be valuable in providing short-term forecasting maps of M(3000)F2 over the European area during very disturbed geomagnetic conditions.