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Ionospheric scintillation by a random phase screen: Spectral approach
Author(s) -
Rufenach Clifford L.
Publication year - 1975
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/rs010i002p00155
Subject(s) - wavenumber , physics , scintillation , power law , gaussian , computational physics , anisotropy , optics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , statistics , detector
The theory developed by Briggs and Parkin, given in terms of an anisotropic gaussian correlation function, is extended to a spectral description specified as a continuous function of spatial wavenumber with an intrinsic outer scale as would be expected from a turbulent medium. Two spectral forms were selected for comparison: (1) a power‐law variation in wavenumber with a constant three‐dimensional index equal to 4, and (2) gaussian spectral variation. The results are applied to the F ‐region ionosphere with an outer‐scale wavenumber: (1) κ0 = 2 km −1 approximately equal to the Fresnel wavenumber, and (2) κ0 = 0.2 km −1 . The power‐law form with a small outer‐scale wavenumber is consistent with recent F ‐region in‐situ measurements, whereas the gaussian form is mathematically convenient and, hence, mostly used in the previous developments before the recent in‐situ measurements. Some comparison with microwave scintillation in equatorial areas is made.