Atmospheric Electricity
P. Ramanand Murthy T. Karthik Reddy
EEE, CBIT, OU
ramanorin@yahoo.co.in
Abstract
Owing to the somewhat explosive development of the
science of atmospheric electricity during the past decade
this article covers a broad field of activity. The article
begins with a description and discussion of the work that
has been performed to understand the electrical
properties of the basic materials involved in generating
processes in the atmosphere. The aspects covered in this
paper are the fair-weather conditions, cluster ions
concept, spherical capacitor theory, and the major
applications of atmospheric electricity. Even the
Fundamental problem of atmospheric electricity and its
solution have been dealt with. The sections covered also
include the electrification of the upper atmosphere and
space, and a consideration of the global electrical circuit
and its related electrical `balance sheet'.
What is Atmospheric Electricity?
EEE, CBIT, OU
tk_redd88@yahoo.com
Atmospheric electricity abounds in the environment;
some traces of it are found less than four feet from the
surface of the earth, but on attaining greater height it
becomes more apparent. It was only after the discovery
of the electricity in the early 1700s that the electrical
nature of the earth’s atmosphere begun to be revealed. In
1708, William Wall, watching the spark of a discharge
from a charged piece of amber, observed that it similar to
lightning. Around the middle of the century, after the
discovery of the first electrical properties of matter, it
became evident that lightning should be a form of
electricity associated in some way with thunderstorms.
Atmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal(daily)
variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic
network.
It’s the study of electric charges and currents in the
atmosphere. Fossils suggest that the terrestrial
atmosphere has had lighting in it for at least 250 million
years.
Intro:
Benjamin Franklin was the first to design an
experiment to prove the electrical nature of lightning. In
July 1750, Franklin proposed that electricity could be
drawn from a cloud by a tall metal pole. If the pole was
insulated from ground, and an observer brought a
grounded wire held by an insulating wax handle near the
pole, then a spark would jump from the pole to the wire
when an electrified cloud was nearby. If this was the
case, it would be proved that the clouds were electrically
charged and, consequently, that lightning was also an
electrical phenomenon. In June 1752, Franklin conducted
another experiment with the same proposal, his famous
experiment using a kite. Instead of use a metal pole he
used a kite, since it could reach a greater elevation than
the pole and could be flown anywhere. One more time
sparks jumped from a key tied to the bottom of the kite
string to his hands. This proved that lightning was also an
electrical phenomenon.
Fair Weather Condition:
L. G. Lemonnier discovered that even when there are no
clouds, the so-called fair weather condition, a weak
electrification exists in the atmosphere.
He also found some evidence that the electrification
varied from night to day. In 1775, G. Beccaria confirmed
the existence of a diurnal variation in the fair weather
electrification and determined that the polarity of the
charge in the atmosphere in fair weather condition was
positive and that it reversed to negative when
thunderstorms were nearby.
it starts at about 8 km altitude. The stratosphere sits
directly above the troposphere and directly below the
mesosphere. The troposphere (lower atmosphere) is the
densest layer of the atmosphere.
The presence of the earth’s surface influences the
concentration of ions, aerosols and radioactive particles,
through its control over the wind, temperature and water
vapor distributions. Such influence is dominated by the
effects of turbulence. The layer in which this influence is
felt is called the planetary boundary layer or exchange
layer. The depth of this layer is highly variable, ranging
from tens of meters to 3 km above the ground.

Atmospheric layers:

Cluster ions Concept:

Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere

The conductivity of the atmosphere increases

exponentially with altitude. The amplitudes of the electric
and magnetic components depend on season, latitude, and
height above the sea level. The greater the altitude the
more atmospheric electricity abounds. The exosphere is
the uppermost layer of the atmosphere and is estimated to
be 500 km to 1000 km above the Earth's surface, and its
upper boundary at about 10,000 km. The thermosphere
(upper atmosphere) is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere
directly above the mesosphere and directly below the
exosphere. Within this layer, ultraviolet radiation causes
ionization. The mesosphere (middle atmosphere) is the
layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the
stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. The
mesosphere is located about 50-80/85km above Earth's
surface. The stratosphere (middle atmosphere) is a layer
of Earth's atmosphere that is stratified in temperature and
is situated between about 10 km and 50 km altitude
above the surface at moderate latitudes, while at the poles
 The lower and middle atmosphere is weak conductors
due to the presence of trace concentrations of ions. Ions
are created by ionization of the neutral molecules of air,
generally nitrogen and oxygen, by primary and secondary
cosmic rays, and by particles and radiation produced by
decay of radioactive substances in the soil, like uranium
and thorium, and in the air, like the gas radon. As a result
of the ionization of the molecules, free electrons and
positive ions, in general singly charged, are created. The
electrons are, then, quickly attached to other neutral
molecules to produce negative ions. The production of
ions by cosmic rays varies with altitude and latitude. The
production of ions due to the decay of radioactive
substances depends on the soil characteristics. In
particular, in the oceans it is several orders of magnitude
smaller than in the continents. In general, the average
ionization (ion-pair production) rate over the continent
due to radioactive substances is predominant on that due
to cosmic rays below 1 km. Above 1 km, the ionization
rate is dominated by the cosmic ray source. The
ionization rate is also sensitive to meteorological
conditions, and geomagnetic and solar activity.
Occasionally, the ionization created by energetic particles
during times of high geomagnetic and solar activity can
dominate that produced by cosmic rays above 20 km.
Also, the 11-year solar sunspot cycle produces a variation
in the ionization rate in the atmosphere. The variation
becomes more pronounced with increasing height or
geomagnetic latitude. After the ions are formed, they
react with neutral molecules and attach to water
molecules from the water vapor always present in the
atmosphere, forming cluster ions. These cluster ions are
relatively stable, and constitute most of the ions of
molecular size, also called small ions. Examples of such
ions are H3O+ (H2O) and O2-(H2O)n. When small ions
attach to aerosol particles, they form large ions.
During steady state conditions, the concentration of
small ions in a given time and place is a result of the
balance between the production (ionization rate) and
destruction of ions. Small ions are destroyed by
recombination between them and by attachment to large
ions and aerosol particles. The total average
concentration of small ions over the continents as over
the oceans is roughly the same and of the order of 1000
cm-3, even though the ionization rate is smaller over the
oceans due to the absence of radioactive elements. This
fact, however, is compensated by the smaller loss rate
due to the lower aerosol concentration. There are more
positive small ions than negative ones, and the difference
produces a net positive charge in the atmosphere. The
existence of a net positive charge near the earth’s surface
implies that additional processes of ion production should
exist, since the ionization process produces equal
concentrations of negative and positive ions.
Charge Separation:
Atmospheric electricity involves phenomena which are
connected with the separation of electric charges in the
sub-ionospheric atmosphere (below about 100 km
height). In the ionosphere and magnetosphere there occur
strong electric currents originating directly from the
solar-terrestrial interaction; in the lower atmosphere,
there flows a much weaker electric current in the so-
called global circuit, which is maintained by the
thunderstorm activity.
Charge separation takes place in three ways:
Thermodynamically
In a thundercloud, small ice crystals collide with
rime-growing graupels; the crystals gain positive
charge, the graupels negative (the microscopic
mechanism is not yet well known).
Convection in the thundercloud carries the ice
crystals to the cloud top, the heavier graupels
staying in the mid-cloud: a macroscopic dipole
structure forms.
By radiation ionization
Cosmic and radioactive radiation ionize air, and
equal numbers of molecular-size positive and
negative small ions are formed; air becomes
(weakly) electrically conductive.
Small ions are also attached to airborne dust
(aerosol), which thus regularizes the number of
small ions.
By collision ionization
Lightning and other discharges in the
thundercloud ionize air temporarily into
electrically conducting channels.
Outer space and near space:
Electric currents created in sunward ionosphere.
In outer space, the magnetopause flows along the
boundary between the region around an astronomical
object (called the "magnetosphere") and surrounding
plasma, in which electric phenomena are dominated or
organized by this magnetic field. Earth is surrounded by a
magnetosphere, as are the magnetized planets Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Mercury is magnetized, but
too weakly to trap plasma. Mars has patchy surface
magnetization. The magnetosphere is the location where
the outward magnetic pressure of the Earth's magnetic
field is counterbalanced by the solar wind, a plasma.
Most of solar particles are deflected to either side of the
magnetopause, much like water is deflected before the
bow of a ship. However, some particles become trapped
within the Earth's magnetic field and form radiation belts.
Photoionization:
Photoionization is the physical process in which an
incident photon ejects one or more electrons from an
atom, ion or molecule.
The ejected electrons, known as photoelectrons, carry
information about their pre-ionized states. For example, a
single electron can have a kinetic energy equal to the
energy of the incident photon minus the electron binding
energy of the state it left. Photons with energies less than
the electron binding energy may be absorbed or scattered
but will not photoionise the atom or ion.
Fair-weather atmospheric electricity:
Fair weather electricity deals with the electric field
and the electrical current in the atmosphere, and the
conductivity of the air.
The discovery of the fair weather circuit followed Ben
Franklin's demonstration that lightning is caused by
electricity. Later experimenters showed that clear, calm
air carries an electrical current which, it turns out is the
return path for the electrical display we know as
lightning.
Atmospheric electricity is like a massive photographic
flash. An electrical charge is built up, a switch is closed,
and electrons barge across a gas, ionizing it and
producing light. But a flash is a complete circuit. In the
case of the Earth, the atmosphere completes the circuit.
The thundercloud charge centres, accumulating tens of
coulombs of electricity, are discharged mainly by
lightning: cloud flashes (most abundant) cause mutual
neutralization of the centers; the lower centre is also
discharged to the ground - by negative ground flashes -
and charges up the earth (the positive centre is discharged
similarly, but by a smaller amount). An excess charge
will be left in the upper positive centre, and it leaks by
conduction to the surrounding air, about one ampere per
thunderstorm cell. Because of the exponentially
increasing conductivity, most of this leak current is
guided to the ionosphere, where it is distributed over the
globe and charges the upper atmosphere to a potential of
about 300 kV with respect to the ground. This
"ionospheric potential" maintains the so-called fair-
weather current, whose density is about 2 pA/m2 (Pico
amperes per square meter). According to Ohm's law, the
fair-weather current density and the electric conductivity
are associated with a downward electric field, about 100
V/m near the ground. The number of simultaneously
active thunder cells ("thunderstorms") over the globe is
about 1000-2000, so the whole circuit carries a current of
about 1000 amperes.
Why does not the (fair-weather) atmospheric electric
field cause a shock of 200 V to a standing human?
Because the human is grounded in practice; the poorly
conducting air cannot charge up a grounded object.
Below a thundercloud, where the ground-level electric
field may be tens of kV/m, the situation is different - but
then the threat comes from a lightning strike.
Carnegie Curve:
The fair weather electric field presents diurnal and
seasonal variations. The typical diurnal variation of the
fair weather electric field as a function of universal time
was first clearly identified by the measurements on the
research vessel Carnegie in the 1920s. The so-called
Carnegie curve is a result of hourly values of the electric
field averaged over many days. The Carnegie curve is
very difficult to reproduce at land stations due to local
processes such as convection currents and aerosol
variations. In general, fluctuations in space charge
density associated with these processes within the
planetary boundary layer have an effect on electric field
roughly comparable in magnitude to that of the Carnegie
curve. If local variations at land stations are removed by
averaging processes, the electric field on the ground
indeed shows a universal time dependence similar to that
of the Carnegie curve. The fair weather electric field also
shows a seasonal variation. Even though the overall
pattern appears much the same of the universal time
variation, there are small seasonal differences in the hour
of maximum field intensity, indicating changes in the
longitude of maximum thunderstorm activity. Also, the
average field shows seasonal variations with maximum
values in the spring and summer in the Northern
Hemisphere, reflecting the fact that there is more
thunderstorms in these seasons in the Northern
Hemisphere than in the same seasons in the Southern
Hemisphere. This, in turn, is a result of the fact that there
is more land in the Northern Hemisphere.
Fundamental problem of atmospheric electricity:
In 1804, P. Erman, suggested for the first time that the
earth should be negatively charged. In 1860, Lord Kelvin
put forward the argument that positive charges must exist
in the atmosphere to explain the electrification in fair
weather. In 1785, C. A. Coulomb discovered that the air
is conductive, observing that a well insulated conductor
exposed to air gradually loses its charge. It was then
estimated that the earth would lose almost all of its
charge to the conductive atmosphere in less than an hour
unless the supply were replenished. This raised what has
become known as the fundamental problem of
atmospheric electricity, that is, how the earth’s negative
charge is maintained.
Solution:
The first attempt to solve this problem was suggested by
C. T. R. Wilson in 1920. Wilson developed the
hypothesis, known as the spherical capacitor theory
that the earth’s surface and an equipotential layer at some
height must behave like plates of a spherical capacitor.
The equipotential layer was firstly termed electrosphere
and was supposed to be somewhere between 40 and 60
km. Later, it was considered to be located coincident with
the ionosphere.
Applications:
1. Application in high energy cosmic ray air
shower detection:
Near ground atmospheric electricity was studied
experimentally. The main objective was to gain more
understanding of this particular aspect of atmospheric
phenomena, while testing the possible application to
cosmic ray research. The results in atmospheric
electricity show that there are certain patterns in ion
grouping such as the size and lifetime. The average
lifetime of ion group is 0.7 seconds and the average size
is about 10 meters at our experimental site. Ultrahigh
energy cosmic ray air showers should create sizable slow
atmospheric electric pulses according to theoretical
calculations. Preliminary studies on air showers with total
particle number N equal or greater than 105 (1015 eV)
have yielded strong evidence that slow atmospheric
current pulses are associated with air showers. The theory
and the experiment agree with each other fairly well
when averaged over large numbers of events. With the
current experimental arrangement, when the air shower
exceeds a certain size, the system response saturates.
Therefore it is extremely desirable in future research that
the counter array be designed for a much higher threshold
level, since this prototype experiment indicates that
interesting data would be obtained. Another reason for
further experimental research being directed toward
ultrahigh energy, and higher, is to establish a calibration
of the slow atmospheric electric signals generated by
cosmic rays as a function of primary cosmic ray energy
and core location.
This type of slow atmospheric electric signal, if fully
understood and calibrated, offers a new and potentially
less expensive technique to observe ultrahigh energy
cosmic ray events, which hold some fundamental keys to
the knowledge of the universe on a large scale.
2. A Lighting Harnessing Power Plant
This concept is perhaps not as impractical as it once
was. The main limiting factor of implementing a
lightning capturing scheme such as this was the inability
to be able to store large amounts of electricity for later
use. However, new Utility Scale Battery technology or
other energy storage technologies such as Flywheels or
Capacitors could be used to store the electricity captured
from lightning in massive quantities, for later grid use.
Obviously, a lightning capturing power plant would only
be practical in regions with frequent thunderstorms, such
as Florida.
Conclusion:
How hard would it be to build an array of lighting rods to
capture periodic thunderstorm electricity? The biggest
hurdle would really be creating power plant infrastructure
that could survive the harsh surges created by lightning
strikes, but even that seems possible with current
technology and materials. Electrical and building design
engineers could come up with an innovative way to make
it work. Specially designed buffer/insulation and
transformer materials could be used to safely capture and
harness the massive amounts of electricity generated
during a lighting strike, and transfer it to large storage
device for later use.
References:

[1]The Atmospheric Electricity Journal by Basil Ferdinand

[2]Phenomena in Environmental Electricity by Reinhold Reiter

[3] www.en.wikipedia.org