Seasonal Effects on Ground-Wave propagation in Cold Regions

Abstract

Abstract The ground-wave is the most important mode of propagation of radio waves in Connection with glaciology. In cold regions, special conditions are often prevalent, involving propagation over non-homogeneous earth, presence of stratified media, and low values of conductivity and dielectric constant in the upper strata. A radio wave which propagates along the Earth's surface is, however, also influenced by atmospheric refraction. As the frequency is increased, the roughness of the Earth's surface must also be taken into account. Thus seasonal variations are to be expected due to changes in the electrical and topographical properties of the ground as well as the propagation conditions in the atmosphere. It is, however, difficult to separate these various effects, a fact which reduces the possibility of using ground-wave propagation as a loot for obtaining information on the properties of the ground. Though the propagation of the ground-wave has been dealt with both theoretically and experimentally for almost a century, some of the most valuable information of major importance in cold regions has been obtained during the last ten years. New theoretical papers on propagation over stratified media offer an explanation of the amplitude and phase variations of the ground-wave field, which have been measured, as well as suggesting new methods to be tested as possible aids in solving glaciological problems. In many practical eases of ground-wave propagation in arctic regions, the formula for the ground-wave field strength can be written in a very simple way. Such a propagation model for frequencies above 30 MHz is presented in which account is taken of the Earth's curvature, the terrain irregularities, and the effect of the tropospheric refraction. This model also includes the recovery effect which occurs in propagation over mixed paths. At the higher frequencies the effect of depolarization becomes very important and sometimes overshadows field-strength variations due to the influence of the electrical properties. Finally some problems will be discussed which remain to be solved or have been given very little attention up to now.