Atmospheric Ducts and Their Electromagnetic Propagation Characteristics in the Northwestern South China Sea

Abstract

The propagation of electromagnetic waves beyond the line of sight can be caused by atmospheric ducts, which are significant concerns in the fields of radar and communication. This paper utilizes data from seven automatic weather stations and five radio-sounding stations to statistically analyze the characteristics of the atmospheric ducts in the northwest region of the South China Sea (SCS). After verifying the practicality of numerical analysis data from NCEP CFSv2 and ECMWF in studying atmospheric ducts using measured data, we analyzed the spatial–temporal distribution characteristics of the height of the regional evaporation duct and the bottom height of the elevated duct. The study found that the NCEP CFSv2 data accurately capture the evaporation duct height and duct occurrence rate in the study area, and the elevated duct bottom height calculated from ERA5 and the measured data have good consistency. The occurrence rate and height of the evaporation duct in coastal stations in the northwest of the SCS vary significantly by month, demonstrating clear monthly distribution patterns; conversely, changes in the Xisha station are minimal, indicating good temporal uniformity. For lower atmospheric ducts, the difference in occurrence rates between 00:00 and 12:00 (UTC) is negligible. The occurrence probability of elevated ducts in the Beibu Gulf area is relatively high, mainly concentrated from January to April, and the Xisha area is dominated by surface ducts without foundation layers, mainly concentrated from June to August. Monsoons play a critical role in the generation and evolution of atmospheric ducts in the northwest of the SCS, with the height of the evaporation duct increasing and the bottom height of the elevated duct decreasing after the onset of the summer monsoon. In the end, we simulated electromagnetic propagation loss under different frequencies and radiation elevation angles in various duct environments within a typical atmospheric duct structure.