Diagnosing the effective parameters of the ionospheric fine structure from statistical characteristics of radio waves in the vicinity of a regular caustic

This paper is concerned with the oblique propagation of decametric radio waves in the ionosphere with random electron density irregularities. Effective parameters are introduced for calculating the influence of irregularities on the wave field structure. A technique is proposed for determining these parameters from measurements of statistical characteristics of the signal in the vicinity of a regular caustic. The technique uses asymptotic expressions obtained using the interference integral method and perturbation theory, as well as matching them to the numerical solution on the basis of the method of characteristics. A global semi-empirical model that is updated for current ionospheric conditions is used to specify the background medium. The proposed technique has been tested using data from a number of mid-latitude paths. Results obtained in this study testify that the technique deserves a practical implementation.