These allow estimation of vertical temperature profiles. MST radar systems also illustrate how significant natural backscatter can result from RRI gradients in the troposphere, and thus allow estimation of vertical wind profiles.
Refractive effects can also significantly enhance scatter volume.
For simplicity, losses for the second station at 500 miles are not plotted quantitatively. Demonstration of the common volume available for scattering, stations 500 nautical miles apart, separated by sea, with a surface duct present at 1000 feet above the ground. Losses for the station at 500 miles are not shown here, but it is very clear how the surface duct reduces losses at elevation, and thus increases signal strengths in the common volume. The common volume available for scattering, stations 500 nautical miles apart, separated by sea, with a surface duct present at 1000 feet above the ground. This time, losses are shown for both stations, to illustrate the very complex nature of signal strengths within the common volume, and the much greater common volume.