Faraday polarization fluctuations of satellite beacon signals

The anisotropic effects of random density irregularities in causing Faraday polarization fluctuations of VHF radio signals are examined, taking both rod-like and sheet-like irregularities into consideration. It is found that the variance of Faraday polarization fluctuations depends on the ratio of perpendicular to parallel correlation lengths. The anisotropic effect of rod-like ionospheric irregularities are shown to be most appreciable for longitudinal propagation. The anisotropic effect of sheet-like ionospheric irregularities, however, is not strongly dependent on the radio propagation angle. During transionospheric propagation at large angles with respect to the geomagnetic field, sheet-like irregularities may cause greater Faraday polarization fluctuations than rod-like irregularities.