Medium frequency travel longer distances via skywave propagation, in which radio waves radiated at an angle into the sky are reflected (actually refracted) back to Earth by layers of charged particles (ions) in the ionosphere, the E and F layers. However at certain times the D layer (at a lower altitude than the refractive E and F layers) can be electronically noisy and absorb MF radio waves, interfering with skywave propagation. This happens when the ionosphere is heavily ionised, such as during the day, in summer and especially at times of high solar activity, At night, especially in winter months and at
Radio propagation propagation. The interference between the direct beam line-of-sight and the ground reflected beam often leads to an effective inverse-fourth-power (1/distance) law for ground-plane limited radiation. Lower frequency (between 30 and 3,000 kHz) vertically polarized radio waves can travel as surface waves following the contour of the Earth; this is called "groundwave" propagation. In this mode the radio wave propagates by interacting with the conductive surface of the Earth. The wave "clings" to the surface and thus follows the curvature of the Earth, so groundwaves can travel over mountains and beyond the horizon. Ground waves propagate in vertical polarization so vertical