Scattering of electromagnetic waves by traveling-wave structures in the ionosphere

The diffraction of electromagnetic waves, incident obliquely on an ionospheric layer with density inhomogeneities of the traveling-wave type, is investigated by S. M. Rytov's method of smooth perturbations. The spatial dependencies of the properties of the ionosphere and of the wavelike inhomogeneities are taken into consideration. The diffraction patterns are analyzed for several variants of height profiles of the wave perturbations. The solutions obtained make it possible to estimate the effect of the form of ionospheric profile and the distribution of the level of disturbance of the wavelike inhomogeneities with respect to altitude on the diffraction effects.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 21, No. 12, pp. 1717–1727, December, 1978.The author expresses his appreciation to V. N. Krasil'nikov for attention and advice.