Structure of Atmosphere

Troposphere ( 16km)
Tropopause
Stratopause
Ionosphere (50-400km)
D-layer (50-90 km)
E-layer (110km)
F1-layer ( 220km)
F2-layer (250-400km)

Structure of Troposphere:
Extends upto a height of 15km from earth surface
% of gas components remains constant with
increase in height.
Water vapour components decreases with height
Temperature with in height anf falls to a
minimum of -68F
After the top of troposphere , tropopause starts.
In this layer the temp remains constant.
Above the tropopause lies the stratopause. Here
the temperature increases with height and
composition of atmosphere varies with height.

Structure of Ionosphere:
Upper part of the atmosphere where ionization is appreciable
When a gas is subjected to low pressure it is possible to
knock-off one or more electrons out of this gas molecule.
These electrons can be knocked off only by a fast moving
electron or by radiation such as UV rays and cosmic rays.
When the UV and cosmic rays reach the upper atmosphere
they cause a large portion of the air particles to be ionized.
The ions, electrons and atoms in a gas are constantly in
motion and therefore they undergo frequent collisions
between them and thus the process of recombination takes
place i.e. a gas molecule which is ionized doesnt remain
ionized indefinitely.
The UV rays from the sun are absorbed by the upper part of
the atmosphere and so there is little ionization in the lower
part of the earths atmosphere
At a height of 400km the air particles are very few and
therefore the density of ionization is very low.

Characteristics of Different Ionized regions:

D region:
Lowermost region of the ionosphere located at
a height of 50-90km.
This layer is present only during daylight hours
and disappears at night because the
recombination rate is higher.
Formed by the ionization of NO particles and
this ionization is produced by L (Lyman )
radiations from the sun.
Its critical freq is about 100KHz
This layer absorbs HF signals

Contd

Normal E region:
Lies above D region at a ht of 90-140kms
having maximum density at 110km from
the earth surface.
This layer is called Kennelly- Heaviside
layer.
Occurs during daylight hours
During night hours it is weakily ionized.
Produced by the ionization of all gases by
soft X-ray radiations.
Critical freq is 3-5 MHz

Contd..
Sporadic E region:
Presence of this region is very irregular and hence
named sporadic
This region occurs in the form of clouds
Occurrence is unpredictable and maybe observed
both in day and night hours
May appear anywhere at a ht of 90-130km
In polar regions this layer mainly occurs at night
while in equatorial zone it appears in day hours
It is produced by thunderstorm or due to vertical
transport of ion clouds
It helps in long distance scatter propagtion of VHF
signals

Contd..
F1, F2 and F regions / Appleton Layer:
Region of ionosphere lying between 140-400km from the earth
surface
Average height is 270km
Uppermost ionized region and is the only region which remains
ionized irrespective of the hours of day or seasons of the years.
Since ionization is present throughout the dark hours of the
night this region facilitates long distance sky wave propagation
during night hours.
The existence of F layer in night hours is due to the fact that:
i) being the topmost layer it is highly ionized and hence some
ions remain even after sunset.
ii) The actual air density at this height is not much and
therefore most of the molecules of this layer remains ionized
During daytime F region splits up into 2 regions called F1 and F2
in low latitude stations throughout the year and in high latitude
stations only in summer

Contd..

F1 layer is the uppermost region situated at

the height range of 140-250kms with average
ht at 220km
Critical freq is 5MHz to 7 MHz
This layer is formed by the ionization of oxygen
atoms
Some of the HF waves are reflected from the
F1 layer but most of the HF wave penetrate
the F1 layer and is reflected from the F2 layer.
F2 is the uppermost region situated at a height
of 250-400km and its critical freq is 10MHz.

Outer atmosphere or G-region

The region further away from 400kms is known as
G-region
This region consists of charge particles trapped
by the earths magnetic field

Sky Wave Propagation

Space waves and ground waves are limited by
the curvature of the earth. Therefore these modes
fail for long distance communication and hence
sky waves are used for long distance
communications
The sky waves are reflected from some of the
ionized layer of ionosphere and return back to
earth either in single hop or multiple hops or
reflections
fig.

I. Expression for refractive index of

ionosphere(neglecting earths magnetic field)

An ionized medium contains free

electrons and ions. The mass of the ions
are much heavier than that of the free
electrons A radiowave passing through
the ionosphere interacts with electrons i.e.
the electric field of the radiowaves sets
these electrons in motion which in turn
constitutes a current and the magnitude of
current depends on the velocity of
vibration