Depolarization of millimeter wave due to non-spherical dust particles in storms

Abstract

In the present paper theoretical investigation has been carried out to estimate the depolarization of millimeter wave by non-spherical dust particles present in sand and dust storms. For this purpose ellipsoidal shape of dust particles is considered. The concept of differential attenuation has been utilized to quantity the depolarization. It has been found that in general depolarization angle, depolarization and loss due to depolarization produced by ellipsoidal dust particles depend heavily on frequency and optical visibility (particle density). The values of depolarization and loss due to depolarization increase with increasing frequency and decrease with increasing visibility. It has been also observed that the values of differential attenuation increase with increasing frequency for particular visibility and thus depends directly on frequency. Similar experimental observation have been made by Cox Arnold and Hoffman in ice and rain at 19 and 28 GHz. Also the reported values by several workers are between 19.4 and 77.5 dB at 10 GHz frequency for 1 km path length. Basir et al., XPD = 77.5 dB, Ghobrial et al., XPD = 30 dB, McEwan et al., XPD = 19.4 dB for 1 km path length and 15 m visibility at 10 GHz.