Bottom side profiles for two close stations at the southern crest of the EIA: Differences and comparison with IRI-2012 and NeQuick2 for low and high solar activity

•Bottom-side profiles have been compared for two close stations upon the southern crest of EIA.•Due to the longitudinal gradient of the EEJ, significant EIA longitudinal variations are observed.•Bottom side profiles from IRI-2012 and NeQuick2 show considerable deviations from those obtained from ionosonde.•In general, IRI-2012 provides better results than NeQuick2.•Both models provide bad performances in the description of the shape parameter B1.