Very low frequency because VLF waves are reflected from the bottom of the ionosphere, while higher frequency shortwave signals are returned to Earth from higher layers in the ionosphere, the F1 and F2 layers, by a refraction process, and spend most of their journey in the ionosphere, so they are much more affected by ionization gradients and turbulence. Therefore, VLF transmissions are very stable and reliable, and are used for long distance communication. Propagation distances of 5000 to 20000 km have been realized. However, atmospheric noise (sferics) is high in the band, including such phenomena as "whistlers", caused by lightning. VLF waves can
Radio acoustic sounding system with a 60 to 100 meter pulse length. Because of atmospheric attenuation of the acoustic signals at the RASS frequencies used by boundary layer radar wind profilers, the altitude range that can be sampled is usually 0.1 to 1.5 km, depending on atmospheric conditions (e.g., high wind velocities tend to limit RASS altitude coverage to a few hundred meters because the acoustic signals are blown out of the radar beam). Radio acoustic sounding system A radio acoustic sounding system (RASS) is a system for measuring the atmospheric lapse rate using backscattering of radio waves from an acoustic wave front to