Interpretation of the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the ionospheric E-region

It is shown that small-scale frequency oscillations of the amplitude-frequency characteristics (AFCs) of the E layer arising during vertical sounding are connected with the interference of the o and x components of the reflected signal. A method is proposed for determining E-layer parameters with the parabolic approximation of this layer on the basis of experimental AFCs. The method is based on the numerical solution of a system of nonlinear equations whose right parts are determined by the frequency values at which the AFC extrema are reached.