INTERNAL GUIDING OF MICROWAVES BY AN ELEVATED TROPOSPHERIC LAYER

The waveguide modes guided by a smooth concave tropospheric layer are considered. The model is chosen so that the effective dielectric susceptibility is a linear segmented function of height. The calculations are made explicitly for a model that is linear with height except for a single inversion layer. It is shown that such a layer will support whispering‐gallery or earth‐detached modes with exceedingly small attenuation even when the refractive index contrast is four or five N units. Copyright 1969 by the American Geophysical Union.