Sodar monitoring of the lower atmosphere and prediction of propagation anomalies on line of sight paths

Simultaneous observations of the lower atmosphere thermal structure are conducted by means of sodar monitoring and by the recording of the propagation characteristics of line of sight (LOS) links at 4, 7, and 11 GHz. Results indicate that the daytime convective activity does not affect the level of the microwave signals, although atmospheric layering during night-time gives rise to intense multipath fading. In addition, the layers located between 40-100 meters above the local ground are found to be responsible for the fading, while layering above 140 meters has no effect on radiowave propagation along the pathways. It is concluded that sodar monitoring is a very efficient auxiliary for qualitative radiowave propagation predictions on LOS paths