High-frequency beam wave propagation in a turbulent stratified ionosphere

High-frequency, (HF) beam wave propagation in a turbulent stratified ionosphere is investigated using the amplitude-phase-screen approach. At oblique incidence, the beam wave is refracted in the ionosphere with its amplitude and phase calculated by geometrical optics approximation. The diffraction from the bottom of the ionosphere down to the ground is taken into account by Fresnel formula. Numerical results are obtained under the assumption of the one-dimensional Gaussian correlated irregularities. It turns out that the coherence bandwidth of the wave is greatly reduced as the strength of random irregularities increases.