Atmospheric diffraction regularly with a 6 watt transmitter from the middle of the Pacific. For more details see the "communications" part of the "Kon-Tiki expedition" entry in Wikipedia. An exotic variant of this radio wave propagation has been examined to show that, theoretically, the ionospheric bounce could be greatly exaggerated if a high powered spherical acoustical wave were created in the ionosphere from a source on earth. In the case of sound waves travelling near the Earth's surface, the waves are diffracted or bent as they traverse by a geometric edge, such as a wall or building. This phenomenon leads to a
International Union of Radio Science Geophysical Union) as well as the "Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics". URSI's original objective (to encourage "scientific studies of radiotelegraphy, especially those which require international cooperation") has been broadened to include all radio science, from telecommunications to radio astronomy, acquisition of radar information about distant passive objects, studies of the radiation stimulated or spontaneously emitted by these objects, biological effects of electromagnetic radiation and active modification of objects by radio waves, within the spectrum from extremely low frequency to the optical domain. A few Commissions are engaged with international projects in cooperation with other international bodies, for example with