Ionosphere this process can occur. Due to the ability of ionized atmospheric gases to refract high frequency (HF, or shortwave) radio waves, the ionosphere can reflect radio waves directed into the sky back toward the Earth. Radio waves directed at an angle into the sky can return to Earth beyond the horizon. This technique, called "skip" or "skywave" propagation, has been used since the 1920s to communicate at international or intercontinental distances. The returning radio waves can reflect off the Earth's surface into the sky again, allowing greater ranges to be achieved with multiple hops. This communication method is variable and
Atmospheric tide The latitudinal structure of the tides is described by the "horizontal structure equation" which is also called "Laplace's tidal equation": with "Laplace operator" using formula_30, formula_31 and "eigenvalue" Hence, atmospheric tides are eigenoscillations (eigenmodes)of Earth's atmosphere with eigenfunctions formula_33, called Hough functions, and eigenvalues formula_34. The latter define the "equivalent depth" formula_35 which couples the latitudinal structure of the tides with their vertical structure. Longuet-Higgins has completely solved Laplace's equations and has discovered tidal modes with negative eigenvalues ε (Figure 2). There exist two kinds of waves: class 1 waves, (sometimes called gravity waves), labelled by positive n, and class