Spread-Es structure producing apparent small scale structure in the F-region

It is presently demonstrated that a simultaneity exists between the occurrence of spread-Es and an apparently disturbed F-region. Spread-Es is suggested to contain a conglomeration of irregularities that are small in horizontal extent, and create multiple F-region echoes with different phase ranges through the influence of refraction. Analysis of the F-region signals by Doppler sorting indicates that the irregularities in spread-Es are separated by a distance of less than 1 km; an amplitude-distribution analysis on a time series of data within the narrow beam, during very perturbed conditions, also indicates spread-Es separations of less than 1 km.