Modelling the penetration of thundercloud electric fields into the ionosphere |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Forecasts and Information Service, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria;2. Sofia University, Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, James Boucher, 5, Sofia, Bulgaria |
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Abstract: | In a previous paper, we considered the penetration of DC thundercloud electric fields E into the ionosphere and also into the region between the ionosphere and the ground (Velinov and Tonev, 1994). In the present paper, we extend the analysis by making a more precise approximation of the electric conductivity profiles by 5–10 piecewise exponential functions of altitude instead of the two functions used up to now. This allows a much more realistic representation of the atmospheric conductivity profile. Besides, Maxwell's equations are solved for more general boundary conditions, taking into account that the electrosphere is not a perfect conductor. This leads to the appearance not only of the transverse Er (as had been assumed until now), but also of the geomagnetic field-aligned Ez component of the penetrating thundercloud electric fields. The computations show that both Er and Ez cause significant variations of the electron density profiles N(z) in the ionosphere. |
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