Some reports of snowfall from fog during the UK winter of 2008/09

Snowfall during anticyclonic, non-frontal, and foggy conditions is surprising. Because it is often not forecast, it can present a hazard to transport and modify the surface albedo. In this report, we present some observations of snowfall during conditions of freezing fog in the UK during the winter of 2008/09

Electromagnetic atmosphere-plasma coupling: the global atmospheric electric circuit

A description is given of the global atmospheric electric circuit operating between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Attention is drawn to the huge range of horizontal and vertical spatial scales, ranging from 10−9 m to 1012 m, concerned with the many important processes at work. A similarly enormous range of time scales is involved from 10−6 s to 109 s, in the physical effects and different phenomena that need to be considered. The current flowing in the global circuit is generated by disturbed weather such as thunderstorms and electrified rain/shower clouds, mostly occurring over the Earth’s land surface. The profile of electrical conductivity up through the atmosphere, determined mainly by galactic cosmic ray ionization, is a crucial parameter of the circuit. Model simulation results on the variation of the ionospheric potential, ∼250 kV positive with respect to the Earth’s potential, following lightning discharges and sprites are summarized. Experimental results comparing global circuit variations with the neutron rate recorded at Climax, Colorado, are then discussed. Within the return (load) part of the circuit in the fair weather regions remote from the generators, charge layers exist on the upper and lower edges of extensive layer clouds; new experimental evidence for these charge layers is also reviewed. Finally, some directions for future research in the subject are suggested

The chaos machine: analogue computing rediscovered (1)

Analogue computers provide actual rather than virtual representations of model systems. They are powerful and engaging computing machines that are cheap and simple to build. This two-part Retronics article helps you build (and understand!) your own analogue computer to simulate the Lorenz butterfly that's become iconic for Chaos theory

Remote sensing of cloud base charge

Layer clouds are abundant in the Earth's atmosphere. Such clouds do not become sufficiently strongly charged to generate lightning, but they show weak charging along the upper and lower cloud boundaries where there is a conductivity transition. Cloud edge charging has recently been observed using balloon-carried electrometers. Measurement of cloud boundary charging without balloons is shown to be possible here for low altitude (<1km) charged cloud bases, through combining their effect on the surface electric field with laser time of flight cloud base height measurements, and the application of simple electrostatic models.Comment: Proceedings of the Electrostatics Society of America conference, Ottawa, June 201

The Carnegie curve

The Earth’s fair weather atmospheric electric field shows, in clean air, an average daily variation which follows universal time, globally independent of the measurement position. This single diurnal cycle variation (maximum around 19UT and minimum around 03UT) is widely known as the Carnegie curve, after the geophysical survey vessel of the Carnegie Institution of Washington on which the original measurement campaigns demonstrating the universal time variation were undertaken. The Carnegie curve’s enduring importance is in providing a reference variation against which atmospheric electricity measurements are still compared; it is believed to originate from regular daily variations in atmospheric electrification associated with the different global disturbed weather regions. Details of the instrumentation, measurement principles and data obtained on the Carnegie’s seventh and final cruise are reviewed here, also deriving new harmonic coefficients allowing calculation of the Carnegie curve for different seasons. The additional harmonic analysis now identifies changes in the phasing of the maximum and minimum in the Carnegie curve, which shows a systematic seasonal variation, linked to the solstices and equinoxes, respectively

Behind the curve: a comparison of historical sources for the Carnegie curve of the global atmospheric electric circuit

The “Carnegie curve” describes the diurnal variation of the global atmospheric electric circuit. It was originally found from atmospheric electric Potential Gradient (PG) measurements, made on the Carnegie, effectively a floating atmospheric electrical observatory, which undertook global cruises between 1915 and 1929. These measurements confirmed that the single diurnal cycle PG variation, previously obtained in both polar regions, was global in extent. The averaged diurnal PG variation, represented by derived harmonic fits, provides a characteristic variation known as the “Carnegie curve”, against which modern measurements are still compared. The ocean air PG measurements were extensively described in reports of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) but widely used secondary sources of the Carnegie curve contain small differences, arising through approximations and transcription errors. Investigations using the historical CIW data show that the original harmonic fit coefficients are reproducible. Despite the inconsistencies, the secondary sources nevertheless mostly yield diurnal variations which fall within the variability of the original historical data

Lord Kelvin’s atmospheric electricity measurements

Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) made important contributions to the study of atmospheric elec- tricity during a brief but productive period from 1859–1861. By 1859 Kelvin had recognised the need for “incessant recording” of atmospheric electrical parameters, and responded by inventing both the water dropper equaliser for measuring the atmospheric potential gradient (PG), and photographic data logging. The water dropper equaliser was widely adopted internationally and is still in use today. Following theoretical consid- erations of electric field distortion by local topography, Kelvin developed a portable electrometer, using it to investigate the PG on the Scottish island of Arran. During these environmental measurements, Kelvin may have unwittingly detected atmospheric PG changes during solar activity in August / September 1859 associated with the “Carrington event”, which is interesting in the context of his later statements that solar magnetic influ- ence on the Earth was impossible. Kelvin’s atmospheric electricity work presents an early representative study in quantitative environmental physics, through the application of mathematical principles to an environmental problem, the design and construction of bespoke instrumentation for real world measurements and recognising the limitations of the original theoretical view revealed by experimental wor

Droplet charging in stratiform clouds

The role of droplet charge in stratiform clouds is one of the least well understood areas in cloud microphysics and is thought to affect cloud radiative and precipitation processes. Layer clouds cover a large proportion of the Earth's surface and are important in regulating the planetary radiation budget. Using a new remote sensing method developed at our University Observatory, we demonstrate that charge in the base of stratiform clouds is typically of negative polarity, as expected from theory considering the vertical current flow into and out of the cloud. More detailed vertical charge structure of layer clouds can be found using balloon-carried instruments. Our previous research using in situ balloon observations has demonstrated that, on average, the bulk charge polarity and location agrees with theoretical predictions of positive charge at the upper edge and negative charge at the lower edge. Here we present optical and charge measurements of droplets from a variety of stratiform clouds, demonstrating the typical variability which is observed.Comment: XVI International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, 17-22 June 2018, Nara city, Nara, Japa

Miniaturized atmospheric ionization detector

A small scintillator-based detector for atmospheric ionization measurements has been developed, partly in response to a need for better ionization data in the weather-forming regions of the atmosphere and partly with the intention of producing a commercially available device. The device can measure both the count rate and energy of atmospheric ionizing radiation. Here we report results of a test flight over the UK in December 2017 where the detector was flown with two Geiger counters on a meteorological radiosonde. The count rate profile with height was consistent both with the Geigers and with previous work. The energy of incoming ionizing radiation increased substantially with altitude.Comment: Proc 18th Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, Nara, Japan, June 201