In telecommunications, a tropospheric wave is a radio wave that travels via reflection in the troposphere. Trophospheric waves are propagated from a place of abrupt change in the dielectric constant, or its gradient. In some cases, a ground wave may be so altered that new components appear to arise from reflection in regions of rapidly changing dielectric constant. When these components are distinguishable from the other components, they are called "tropospheric waves."
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This article incorporates public domain material from Federal Standard 1037C. General Services Administration. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. (in support of MIL-STD-188).