RF Propagation Characterization in the Arctic : Measurements from JHU/APL participation in 2018 SODA campaign

Abstract

This paper details Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s (JHU/APL) participation in the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) 2018 Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic (SODA) campaign emphasizing characterization of the RF propagation environment. Several sources of data were collected including meteorological data and RF signals of opportunity. Apart from observing long range HF signals via expected ionospheric reflection, instances of anomalous tropospheric RF propagation were also observed on several occasions during a month-long underway, along with meteorological data collected to help model the phenomena.