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Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere. The ionosphere (/ aɪ ˈ ɒ n ə ˌ s f ɪər /) [1] [2] is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about 48 km (30 mi) to 965 km (600 mi) above sea level, [3] a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar ...
ISAB is only a factor in the period of the day where radio signals travel through the portion of the ionosphere facing the Sun. The solar wind and radiation cause the ionosphere to become charged with electrons in the first place. At night, the atmosphere becomes drained of its charge, and radio signals can go much farther with less loss of signal.
Radio waves (black) reflecting off the ionosphere (red) during skywave propagation. Line altitude in this image is significantly exaggerated and not to scale. In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere.
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The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics, atmospheric physics, meteorology and Earth science. [2]
An ionosonde, or chirpsounder, is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere. The basic ionosonde technology was invented in 1925 by Gregory Breit and Merle A. Tuve [ 1 ] and further developed in the late 1920s by a number of prominent physicists, including Edward Victor Appleton .
In this way radio waves can travel beyond the horizon, around the curve of the Earth. However the refractive index of the ionosphere decreases with increasing frequency, so there is an upper limit to the frequency which can be used. Above this frequency the radio waves are not reflected by the ionosphere but are transmitted through it into space.
The Earth–ionosphere waveguide [1] is the phenomenon in which certain radio waves can propagate in the space between the ground and the boundary of the ionosphere. Because the ionosphere contains charged particles, it can behave as a conductor. The earth operates as a ground plane, and the resulting cavity behaves as a large waveguide.