Evidence of atmospheric tides from satellite beacon experiment

Long-term satellite beacon measurements have been extensively used to establish ground truth data for prediction procedures. Initially, attenuation and depolarisation were the key parameters sought, supplemented more recently with secondary data on fade duration and intervals, site diversity and fade rates. An analysis of four years´ worth of data from an experiment in Papua New Guinea has shown evidence of diurnal, seasonal and annual variations in the clear sky level that appear to show evidence of atmospheric tidal effects that have implications in the design of satellite systems.