Seasonal and annual variations in the strength of the atmospheric electric field in the 24th cycle of solar activity measured in Yakutsk

Abstract

The paper presents the results of measuring the strength of the atmospheric electric field in fair weather conditions in the 24th cycle of solar activity from 2009 to 2019 according to observations in Yakutsk (North-east of Siberia). Intensity of the atmospheric electric field measurements by an electric field-mill sensor, mounted on the roof of the main building of the SchICRA SB RAS (N 62 ° 1 ‘, E129 ° 43’) in Yakutsk. The field-mill sensor has a measurement range of the atmospheric electric field strength +/- 50 kV/m with an accuracy of +/- 1 V/m. The data acquisition system based on a personal computer and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) E 14-440 L-Card. Data is written to the hard disc drive of the data acquisition system with a one second resolution data. Based on the analysis of data on the atmospheric electric field from 2009 to 2019 it was found that the seasonal variation of the monthly mean values of the field strength has maxima in the spring and autumn months and minima in the summer and winter months. Annual variations of the field strength in fair weather conditions over the observation period have a general trend towards a decrease in the field strength.

A thunderstorm near Yakutsk on July 1, 2020, according to measurements by three instrumental systems

“…The closest zone around the city (up to 38 km) is most effectively covered by measurements with a 1-s time resolution on the electric field mill detectorfluxmeter EZ NMLS 411124000 (NIRFI UNN) 3 . Disturbances of the electrostatic component of the surface electric field indicate two multicell thunderstorms from 10.50 UT to 13.00 UT (the first event) and from 13.50 UT to 16.30 UT (the second event analyzed in this paper) (fig.…”