RADIATIVE-TRANSFER IN A LAYER OF MAGNETIZED PLASMA WITH RANDOM IRREGULARITIES

The problem of radio wave reflection from an optically thick plane uni form layer of magnetized plasma is considered in the present work. The plasma electron density irregularities are described by a spatial spe ctrum of arbitrary form. The small-angle scattering approximation in i nvariant ray coordinates is proposed as a technique for the analytical investigation of the radiation transfer equation. The approximate sol ution describing the spatial and angular distribution of radiation ref lected from a plasma layer is obtained. The solution obtained is inves tigated numerically for the case of ionospheric radio wave propagation . Two effects occur as a consequence of multiple scattering: a change in the reflected signal intensity and an anomalous refraction.