Atmospheric duct by the ionosphere. The reduced refractive index due to lower densities at the higher altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere bends the signals back toward the Earth. Signals in a higher refractive index layer, "i.e.," duct, tend to remain in that layer because of the reflection and refraction encountered at the boundary with a lower refractive index material. In some weather conditions, such as inversion layers, density changes so rapidly that waves are guided around the curvature of the earth at constant altitude. Phenomena of atmospheric optics related to atmospheric ducting include the green flash, Fata Morgana, superior mirage, mock mirage
History of geophysics the waves reflected off the internal layers of the Earth, several theories developed as to what would cause variances in wave speed or loss of certain frequencies. This led to scientists like Inge Lehmann discovering the presence of the Earth's core in 1936. Beno Gutenberg and Harold Jeffreys worked at explaining the difference in Earth's density due to compression and the shear velocity of waves. Since seismology is based on elastic waves, the speed of waves could help determine density and therefore the behavior of the layers within the Earth. Nomenclature for the behavior of seismic waves was produced based