Extremely high frequency paths. They are not reflected by the ionosphere nor do they travel along the Earth as ground waves as lower frequency radio waves do. At typical power densities they are blocked by building walls and suffer significant attenuation passing through foliage. Absorption by atmospheric gases is a significant factor throughout the band and increases with frequency. However, it is maximum at a few specific absorption lines, mainly those of oxygen at 60 GHz and water vapor at 24 GHz and 184 GHz. At frequencies in the "windows" between these absorption peaks, millimeter waves have much less atmospheric attenuation and greater
Atmospheric diffraction Earth's surface. This phenomenon is sometimes called the corona effect, not to be confused with the solar corona. On the right is a 1/10-second exposure showing an overexposed full moon. The Moon is seen through thin vaporous clouds, which glow with a bright disk surrounded by an illuminated red ring. A longer exposure would show more faint colors beyond the outside red ring. Another form of atmospheric diffraction or bending of light occurs when light moves through fine layers of particulate dust trapped primarily in the middle layers of the troposphere. This effect differs from water based atmospheric diffraction because