APPLICATION OF POLARIMETRIC SOUNDING TO HF IONOSPHERIC REMOTE-SENSING

It is shown that the scattering of electromagnetic waves by refractive index inhomogeneities in a continuous random medium is accompanied by a certain polarimetric phenomenon that is analogous to the Brewster e ffect of classic electrodynamics. In this paper, an observational meth od and results are discussed for the case of bistatic HF radar soundin g of small-scale ionospheric inhomogeneities at frequencies above MUF. The height of the scattering layer, its thickness, and characteristic plasma drift velocity in the ionosphere are estimated as a result of statistical processing.