an angle higer than ~42 degrees seems to indicate roughly a 50% longer path?
That said, I wonder what the average "fractal dimension" of a city to city fiber link is - I suspect wavering path around buildings and along roads dominate the increase in path VS theoretical straight (curved along the earth) path?
Don't forget fiber splices for accidental cuts. Engineers have to try their best to match the existing refraction when splicing in the new patch. Tools help, but there's a lot of skill and craftsmanship there.
A splice may or may not work, or something in between. The splice might cause enough attenuation that you go over your optical budget (signal strength and receiver sensitivity) so no link comes up. But it might come up just barely and then you may have some bad frames as a result.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection
an angle higer than ~42 degrees seems to indicate roughly a 50% longer path?
That said, I wonder what the average "fractal dimension" of a city to city fiber link is - I suspect wavering path around buildings and along roads dominate the increase in path VS theoretical straight (curved along the earth) path?