Sensitivity study of orbital atmospheric density models

Results are presented from a parametric study involving the comparison of the sensitivity to changes in the solar flux and geomagnetic index of the three models currently available at the Marshall Space Flight Center, namely J70, J71, and J77. Twelve different cases of solar/geomagnetic input are used in the study. The inputs of each model are the average daily solar flux parameter, the 162-day centered average solar flux parameter, and the 3-hour average geomagnetic index. Values representing solar conditions close to low, medium, and high are used. All the computations are made over an 81-point latitude/longitude earth matrix coonsisting of nine latitudes from 80 deg N to 80 deg S, along with nine longitudes from 40 deg E to 360 deg, with spacing of 20 deg for latitude and 40 deg for longitude.