Multiple scattering effects in radar diagnostics of natural media

Summary form only given. All existing methods of radar diagnostics of natural media are based on the effect of large-angle wave scattering. Therefore the problem of wave scattering by large angles presents not only the fundamental but a great practical interest as well. In particular, its solution is used for a quantitative interpretation of the transhorizon radio propagation effect in the neutral atmosphere (long-range tropospheric propagation). In the present paper a new approach to solving the integral equation for the scattered power is developed. Its basic ideas are as follows. The true field in the integrand is replaced by the incident one calculated in the small-angle approximation of the stochastic parabolic equation. Thus it accumulates all the multiple scattering effects along the path from the source of radiation to the current point inside the scattering volume. To decouple the fourth statistical moments, the functional derivatives method is used. The product of the Bragg vector of the scattered field and the longitudinal scale size of inhomogeneities of the medium is assumed to be a large parameter.