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Transionospheric pulse pairs originating in maritime, continental, and coastal thunderstorms: Pulse energy ratios
Author(s) -
Tierney Heidi E.,
Jacobson Abram R.,
RousselDupré Robert,
Beasley William H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/2001rs002506
Subject(s) - continental shelf , pulse (music) , polarization (electrochemistry) , thunderstorm , geology , environmental science , meteorology , physics , optics , oceanography , detector , chemistry
We examine the ratio of energy in the second pulse to energy in the first pulse for 2467 transionospheric pulse pairs (TIPPs). The TIPPs examined here have been attributed to thunderstorms occurring over maritime, continental, and coastal regions near the continental United States. The mean values of the energy ratios are found to be 0.39 ± 0.27 for continental TIPPs and 0.94 ± 0.62 for maritime TIPPs. The energy ratio values for the coastal TIPPs exhibit a bimodal distribution representative of both the continental and the maritime populations. Previous observational evidence has shown that the second pulse of a TIPP is the surface‐reflected signal from the same source as the first pulse. We compare the observed pulse energy ratios to the reflection coefficients of soil and seawater given by the Fresnel equations. The average values of the reflection coefficients for sources with vertical plane and horizontal plane polarization are consistent with the data.