Approximate solutions and error bounds for the wave equation in a stratified ionosphere with turning points

A solution to the problem of a plane electromagnetic wave traveling parallel to a constant magnetic field in a horizontally stratified ionosphere was developed assuming that the permittivity of the medium can be represented as the sum of an unperturbed component and a perturbed component. The method is successfully applied to the case of a linearly varying permittivity of a lossless ionosphere with a superimposed Gaussian perturbing term. The feasibility of applying the method in the presence of an odd number of turning points is discussed. 13 refs