Range gate dependence of specular echoes

Some controversy has surrounded the interpretation of the enhancement of VHF radar echoes at vertical incidence (also known as partial reflections, specular reflections and Fresnel scattering) since they were reported by the Sunset and the SOUSY radars. There is little doubt as to the observational fact of this enhancement since it was observed by experimenters using at least eleven MST or ST radars. In addition to the Sunset and SOUSY radars, this result was obtained in the lower atmosphere at the Platteville, Poker Flat, Jicamarca Arecibo radars as well as the three radars of the ALPEX experiments. In the upper atmosphere, specular or partial reflections were observed. These vertical enhancements were associated with increases in the static stability of the atmosphere, with a temperature gradient in the stratosphere, were used to monitor the height of the tropopause, and were associated with the passage of fronts.