On the Validity of Some Approximations to the Appleton-Hartree Magneto-Ionic Formula

Abstract

Several approximate formulae, often used in practice, have been derived from the Appleton-Hartree formulae using the Bailey and Somerville (1938) approach. The absorption suffered by radio waves of a number of frequencies in model ionospheric layers have been computed using the various approximate formulae derived. Comparison of different absorption coefficients reveal that the errors which are caused by using some of the approximations lie within 10 per cent whereas in case of some others it may exceed 50 per cent.