Y incidence

Vertical
Vertical magnetic f i e l d oblique nmgnetic field

Fig. 1

!EiXOFtE!CICAL A N D ExPERIkEXW?.. INVESTIGATION OF

THE GROUP HEIGHTS OF RIWLECTION OF 1sO-HC
RADIO WAVES VERTICALLY I X C I D E N T OM IOITOSPHEREJ)
Norman Davsds and Rune Lindquistt
The Pennsylvania State College,
State College, Pa.

This paper concerned with the theoretical and experimental

determination of the heights of reflection of long radio
vertically Incident on Ionosphere. The theoretically
group heights 250-microsecond Gaussian shaped pulses
are determined utilizing: (1) theory treatment including
coupling, (2) a Chapman-like ionospheric model all.vari-
ables and the* height variations and ( 3 ) a fundamental radio f i e -
quency o r carrier coanponent 150 kc.

research reported in this paper has been supported by the

Geophysical Research Division of the Air Force Cambridge Research
Center under Contract 19 (122
Ch leave frm the Chabers Institute of Technology,. Gothenberg,
Sweden.

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 E;1.am thetheoreticalvieoint the continuous wave re-
sults of Gibbonsand Nertneyylqsl) (1952 J extended by includ-
the dispersive characteristics of the above model. This i s
accomplished by determining the received pulse characteristfcs by
means of a response funotion developed from a suitable Fourier-
Remite series which inclndes the frequency dependent effects of
the model. It i s found that the rapid changes in polarization
near the lower edge of E-region, called the "coupling region", are
very effective in generating reflected waves o r pnlses under suit-
able conditions; late night hours associated with low E-layer
c r i t i c a l frequencies, Howevers thedispersivecharacteristics are
mall so that almost negligLb3.e group retardation is t o .be expected.
A t a higher level i n the layer, yapid variations the index of
refraction for o m of the characteristic wave components occur i n
Khat i s called the ''reflection regionf1. Here the t%ne delaysare
large for lorn c r i t i c a l frequency models.
gebmetrical discussion i s included concerning polarization
and coupling factors. If not considered,then the ordinary and
extraordinary modes can be given 8 representation ( i n a certain
complex space) as orthogonal principal directions,
!&e above theory i s compared wlth the experbentally observed
group heizhts on a diurnal and seasonal basis. Good agreenent i s
obtalned and i s further strengthened by emparitson with recent
measurements of Jones on the diurnal change i n phase paths.

The occurrence of a third echo i n addition t o the regular

f i r s t hop E-echoes i s reported. This apparently from lev-
e l s above the m a x i m u n ionization density of the E-layer, %eight
range 100 to 200 lan, and appears t o be associated with low night-
time E-layer c r i t i c a l frequencies and magnetically disturbed con-
ditions.
Correlations of experimental r e s u l t s w i t h solar f l a r e s ,
e t c . are also considered.

(Abstract

137
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