The correlation between the electric field at a great distance and a new radio-meteorological parameter

The daily variations of hourly median 1046-mc transmission loss, recorded over a 370-kra propagation path, are found to be correlated with a new meteorological parameter that combines the thermodynamic stability of the atmosphere and the "useful gradient" of the radio refractive index. The thermodynamic stability is evaluated from the area contained between the observed temperature distribution with height and the pseudo-adiabatic temperature lapse, while the useful gradient of the refractive index is derived from ray tracing considerations, and is weighted towards the initial gradient.