Comparisons of IRI global TEC maps with CODE GIMs

The Global Ionospheric Maps (GIM) produced at CODE are used in this work as experimental reference to evaluate the performance of IRI in predicting global vertical TEC during a period of high solar activity. The analysis has been done for the four seasons of year 2001, comparing monthly median GIMs for 12 different UTs. The attention is focused on the correct reproduction of large scale features like the equatorial anomaly or behavior at high latitudes, to understand where and under which conditions the IRI model could present unexpectable features.