Ionospheric Dynamics and Effects on Radio Wave Propagation
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Upper Atmosphere".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026 | Viewed by 178
Editors
Interests: electromagnetic fields and waves; radiowave propagation; propagation and scattering of electromagnetic waves; antenna theory and techniques; waves and fields in complex media
Interests: electromagnetic inverse scattering; computational electromagnetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to bring together state-of-the-art advances at the intersection of waves and fields in plasma, electromagnetic propagation in complex media, antenna theory, space antenna arrays, scattering and radar techniques, ionospheric modulation, and computational electromagnetics. Its central focus is on treating the ionosphere as a dynamic, partially ionized atmospheric medium that both enables and perturbs radio wave propagation, with direct implications for communication, navigation, remote sensing, and space weather resilience. This theme aligns well with Atmosphere’s established interest in upper-atmosphere processes, ionospheric disturbances, and radio propagation-related observations and modeling.
The scope of the Special Issue includes theoretical, experimental, and applied studies on plasma-wave interactions; propagation, absorption, refraction, and scattering in magnetized and inhomogeneous media; advanced antenna and phased-array designs for ionospheric sounding and radar; coherent and incoherent scatter techniques; inverse methods; and numerical or data-driven frameworks for diagnosing and forecasting ionospheric variability. Recent research trends also point to strong momentum in multi-static phased-array radar systems, full-wave and analytical propagation modeling in collisional magnetized plasmas, dense observational networks based on GNSS, and mass-market mobile devices for ionospheric mapping.
This Special Issue seeks to serve as a forum for publishing integrative studies that connect fundamental plasma electrodynamics with practical sensing and engineering solutions. We particularly welcome submissions that utilize new theories, methods, instrumentation, and simulations to improve our understanding of ionospheric dynamics and its effects on radar performance, antenna systems, and trans-ionospheric electromagnetic propagation under both quiet and disturbed geophysical conditions.
Dr. Tong He
Prof. Dr. Kai Li
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- waves and fields in plasma
- electromagnetic propagation in complex media
- antenna theory
- space antenna array
- scattering and radar techniques
- ionospheric modulation
- computational electromagnetics
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