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Global and Regional Electricity Components in Undisturbed Midlatitude Lower Atmosphere

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Abstract

The physical mechanisms determining the variability of the vertical profiles of electrical conductivity, space charge density, and electric field in the undisturbed midlatitude lower atmosphere are discussed. The influence of the global and local mesoscale processes on the variability of electrical conductivity and the main component of the atmospheric electric field is estimated. The sunrise effect is studied, estimates are obtained for the charge accumulation rate in the column of the lower atmosphere and the corresponding growth rate of the field strength close to the ground. It is shown that the increase in the average charge density is mainly due to the breakdown of the stable stratification of the atmospheric boundary layer and transformation of the vertical profile of electrical conductivity following the convective mixing of a radon and its daughter products.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borok Geophysical Observatory, Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, 152742, Russia

    S. V. Anisimov, S. V. Galichenko, K. V. Aphinogenov & A. A. Prokhorchuk

Authors
  1. S. V. Anisimov
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  2. S. V. Galichenko
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  3. K. V. Aphinogenov
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  4. A. A. Prokhorchuk
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Correspondence to S. V. Galichenko.

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Original Russian Text © S.V. Anisimov, S.V. Galichenko, K.V. Aphinogenov, A.A. Prokhorchuk, 2018, published in Fizika Zemli, 2018, No. 5, pp. 104–114.

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Anisimov, S.V., Galichenko, S.V., Aphinogenov, K.V. et al. Global and Regional Electricity Components in Undisturbed Midlatitude Lower Atmosphere. Izv., Phys. Solid Earth 54, 764–774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351318050038

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351318050038

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