Microwave propagation over the South ocean

We present the results of meteorological and radio-meteorological observations as well as the results of measurements of the attenuation factor of ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio waves during the 28th Soviet Antarctic expedition in January-March 1983. It is shown that radio-meteorological parameters over the South ocean area in summer almost coincide with the corresponding averaged parameters over the land in winter. The main mechanism of radiowave propagation at distances over 100 km is single scattering by turbulent fluctuations of the atmospheric refractive index. Absolute values of the running attenuation at high frequencies are low compared to those in other climatic areas.