Influence of tropical F region in ionosphere on propagation of short radio waves

Tropical ionospheric waveguides in the presence of stratification of the electron concentration maximum were studied. Under these conditions a specific form of vertical electron concentration profile is formed which to a great extent determines the nature and conditions of propagation of short radio waves in the low latitudes. The phase trajectories were computed for a spherically stratified ionosphere. Three approaches for description of the ionospheric waveguide were used: comparative, temporal, latitudinal. Examples of computations are given which show that in a wide spatial-temporal range in the tropical ionosphere there is an additional ionospheric waveguide in which radio waves can be propagated along ricochetting trajectories. At identical time there can be three types of phases trajectories or three types of adjacent channels, each of which is characterized by a definite working frequency and definite conditions for the propagation of radio waves in it. The computations presented give a qualitative representation of the influence of stratification of the electron concentration on the formation, dynamics and degeneration of the additional ionospheric waveguides in the tropical latitudes.