A global electric circuit model within a community climate model

Abstract

AbstractTo determine the complex dependencies of currents and electric fields within the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) on the underlying physics of the atmosphere, a new modeling framework of the GEC has been developed for use within global circulation models. Specifically, the Community Earth System Modeling framework has been utilized. A formulation of atmospheric conductivity based on ion production and loss mechanisms (including galactic cosmic rays, radon, clouds, and aerosols), conduction current sources, and ionospheric potential changes due to the influence of external current systems are included. This paper presents a full description of the calculation of the electric fields and currents within the model, which now includes several advancements to GEC modeling as it incorporates many processes calculated individually in previous articles into a consistent modeling framework. This framework uniquely incorporates effects from the troposphere up to the ionosphere within a single GEC model. The incorporation of a magnetospheric potential, which is generated by a separate magnetospheric current system, acts to modulate or enhance the surface level electric fields at high‐latitude locations. This produces a distinct phasing signature with the GEC potential that is shown to depend on the observation location around the globe. Lastly, the model output for Vostok and Concordia, two high‐latitude locations, is shown to agree with the observational data obtained at these sites over the same time period.