Ionospheric reflection is a bending, through a complex process involving reflection and refraction, of electromagnetic waves propagating in the ionosphere back toward the Earth.
The amount of bending depends on the extent of penetration (which is a function of frequency), the angle of incidence, polarization of the wave, and ionospheric conditions, such as the ionization density. It is negatively affected by incidents of ionospheric absorption.
This article incorporates public domain material from the General Services Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C".
Famous quotes containing the word reflection:
“There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)