Swedish meteorologists: a strange atmospheric phenomenon helped sink the Moskva ship
Although the radar's visibility is only 46 km, atmospheric inversion made it possible to see it at an altitude of 120 km
Swedish meteorologists have published an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, in which they said that an unusual atmospheric phenomenon helped sink the Moscow cruiser in April 2022, The Insider writes.
The cruiser was far beyond the standard range of Ukrainian radar, about 120 km from Odesa. Despite this, the ship was hit by Ukrainian Neptune cruise missiles.
Swedish scientists have found that the attack on the cruiser was caused by refractive index inversion, a phenomenon in which the refractive index of the atmosphere drops rapidly with increasing altitude. As a result, electromagnetic waves are refracted and bend around the Earth's surface, propagating further than usual. This allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to see the cruiser on radar and engage it, even though the standard range of Ukrainian radar was only 46 kilometers.
Normally, the value that describes the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in the atmosphere, taking into account the curvature of the Earth (the so-called "modulus of refraction"), increases with altitude. If this value does not grow fast enough, then electromagnetic waves will be slightly "bent" downward during propagation. When this value begins to decrease with altitude, the atmosphere acquires the properties of a waveguide – electromagnetic waves seem to be trapped and begin to "press" against the ground.
Taking into account the data on the effective radar scattering cross-section of the "Russian warship," the scientists concluded that it was from 16 to 21 hours on April 13, 2022, that the atmosphere was in such a state that radars could detect the ship even at a greater distance from Odesa.
The scientists conclude that scientific meteorological data should not be neglected in times of war.
Background. The day before, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said that during the war, the Ukrainian military managed to destroy 15 Russian warships and damage another 12.
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