Radio-frequency radiation energy transfer in an ionospheric layer with random small-scale inhomogeneities

Conclusion

The equation of the energy balance for the radiation in a randomly inhomogeneous planestratified plasma layer is derived in this paper based on the phenomenological approach. This equation can be transformed, thanks to the use of invariant ray variables, into a drift-type equation which describes deformation of the spatial distribution of the radio-frequency radiation resulting from the multiple scattering. Two related effects are studied numerically: the variations in the radiowave arrival angles for the slightly oblique propagation and variation in the intensity of the radio-frequency radiation reflected from the plasma layer. Their practical value is associated with such fields as radio homing at short paths, SW radars, the interpretation of results of vertical sounding of the ionosphere, as well as diagnostics of the inhomogeneous structure of the plasma in plasma-like media.

The procedure suggested can be used for the study of scattering effects for radiowaves crossing the plasma layer (e.g., in transionospheric sounding), or oblique propagation (e.g., in the vicinity of the maximum frequency). This will be the subject of papers to follow, as well as analysis of the complete solution of the equation of energy balance in a plane-stratified layer.