Investigating Earth’s Atmospheric Electricity: a Role Model for Planetary Studies

Aplin, Karen; Harrison, R. G.; Rycroft, M.J.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-87664-1_3

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…The global atmospheric electric circuit (Rycroft et al, ), originally suggested by Wilson (, ), is a well‐established feature of the atmosphere which couples charge separation in disturbed weather regions with current flow in distant fair weather zones. It results from the slight conductivity of atmospheric air caused by cosmic ray ionization and natural radioactivity, combined with the conductive pathways presented by the upper atmosphere and the planetary surface (Aplin et al, ). Strong evidence in support of the global circuit was provided by Whipple and Scrase () through the similarity they reported between the diurnal cycle in global thunderstorm area and the surface atmospheric fair weather electric field measured in oceanic air.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the microphysical effects of observed cloud edge charging

Harrison

Nicoll

Ambaum

2015

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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Liquid layer clouds are abundant globally. Lacking strong convection, they do not become electrified by the usual thunderstorm mechanisms of collisional electrification between hydrometeors of different phases. Instead, the background global circuit current flow in fair weather is largely unaffected by the layer cloud's presence, and, if the layer cloud is extensive horizontally, the vertical fair weather conduction current passes through the cloud. A consequence of the vertical current flow is that, at the cloud-air boundary where there is a conductivity transition and droplets form or evaporate, droplet charging occurs. Charge can affect both droplet evaporation and droplet-droplet collisions. Using new radiosonde instrumentation, the charge observed at layer cloud edges is evaluated for both these microphysical droplet processes. This shows that the charging is more likely to affect collision processes than activation, for small droplets. Enhancing the collection efficiency of small droplets modifies their evolution and propagates through the size distribution to shorten the autoconversion time-scale to rain drops, and the cloud radiative properties. Because the conduction current density is influenced by both external (e.g. solar modulation of high-energy particles) and internal (e.g. El Niño-Southern Oscillation) factors, current flow leading to layer cloud edge charging provides a possible route for expressing solar influences on the climate system and a teleconnection mechanism for communicating internal climate variability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the microphysical effects of observed cloud edge charging

Harrison

Nicoll

Ambaum

2015

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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“…There are numerous reviews of the GEC as well as reviews focusing on various aspects. Detailed presentations can be found in Krider [], especially chapters 11–15, and more recently in Leblanc et al [], which contains a collection of articles published in Space Science Reviews , including a historical review [ Aplin et al , ]. Numerous short reviews have been presented in the literature [e.g., Singh et al , ; Rycroft and Harrison , ; Rycroft et al , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a comprehensive global electric circuit model: Atmospheric conductivity and its variability in CESM1(WACCM) model simulations

et al. 2013

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[1] As an important step in further modeling and understanding the global electric circuit, the Community Earth System Model (CESM1) has been extended to provide a calculation of conductivity in the troposphere and stratosphere. Conductivity depends on ion mobility and ion concentration, the latter being controlled by a number of ion production and loss processes. This leads to a complex dependency of conductivity on most importantly galactic cosmic ray flux, radon emissions from the Earth's surface, aerosol number concentrations, clouds, and temperature. To cover this variety in parameters for calculating and evaluating conductivity, an Earth system model is extremely useful. Here the extension of CESM1 to calculate conductivity is described, and the results are discussed with a focus on their spatial and temporal variabilities. The results are also compared to balloon and aircraft measurements, and good agreement is found for undisturbed conditions and during a solar proton event. The conductivity model implementation is a significant improvement to previous studies because of the high-quality, high-resolution model data input. Notably, the aerosol representation provided by off-line calculations of tropospheric and stratospheric aerosol using the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres as part of CESM1(WACCM) (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model) provides a realistic computation of the impact of the background aerosol distribution for the first time. In addition to the novel high-resolution information on conductivity, it is found that an intra-annual cycle exists in the total global resistance, varying between 220 and 245 . The model shows that this cycle is driven equally by seasonal aerosol and cloud variations.

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“…This is where it must be pointed out that direct CR may affect the climate. The effect of GCR on the 'Global electrical circuit' (Williams 2002;Rycroft et al 2008) has been studied by Tinsley (2008) and Aplin et al (2008) who consider the effect of 'electrofreezing' and 'electro-scavenging'; these processes lead to changes in the density of cloud condensation nuclei. In all these processes it is important to know the manner in which CR ionization varies with atmospheric depth.…”

Section: The Cosmic Radiation and Its Relation To Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Long Term Time Variability of Cosmic Rays and Possible Relevance to the Development of Life on Earth

Erlykin

Wolfendale

2010

Surv Geophys

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An analysis is made of the manner in which the cosmic ray intensity at Earth has varied over its existence and its possible relevance to both the origin and the evolution of life. Much of the analysis relates to the 'high energy' cosmic rays (E [ 10 14 eV; =0.1 PeV) and their variability due to the changing proximity of the solar system to supernova remnants which are generally believed to be responsible for most cosmic rays up to PeV energies. It is pointed out that, on a statistical basis, there will have been considerable variations in the likely 100 My between the Earth's biosphere reaching reasonable stability and the onset of very elementary life. Interestingly, there is the increasingly strong possibility that PeV cosmic rays are responsible for the initiation of terrestrial lightning strokes and the possibility arises of considerable increases in the frequency of lightnings and thereby the formation of some of the complex molecules which are the 'building blocks of life'. Attention is also given to the well known generation of the oxides of nitrogen by lightning strokes which are poisonous to animal life but helpful to plant growth; here, too, the violent swings of cosmic ray intensities may have had relevance to evolutionary changes. A particular variant of the cosmic ray acceleration model, put forward by us, predicts an increase in lightning rate in the past and this has been sought in Korean historical records. Finally, the time dependence of the overall cosmic ray intensity, which manifests itself mainly at sub-10 GeV energies, has been examined. The relevance of cosmic rays to the 'global electrical circuit' points to the importance of this concept.

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Investigating Earth’s Atmospheric Electricity: a Role Model for Planetary Studies

Cited by 21 publications

References 79 publications

On the microphysical effects of observed cloud edge charging

On the microphysical effects of observed cloud edge charging

Toward a comprehensive global electric circuit model: Atmospheric conductivity and its variability in CESM1(WACCM) model simulations

Long Term Time Variability of Cosmic Rays and Possible Relevance to the Development of Life on Earth

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