An Experimental Study on the Variation of Atmospheric Magnetic-Field Intensity Related to Dust, Haze, Rain, Snow, and Thunderstorms

Abstract

Simultaneous measurements of the vertical magnetic field (VMF), three-dimensional electric field, ambient temperature, ambient relative humidity, particle mass concentration, and three-dimensional velocity are conducted during dust, haze, rain, snow, and thunderstorms. The hourly VMF variation (the rate of VMF increment and time increment with a 1-h time interval) is used to evaluate the disturbance level of the atmospheric magnetic field during the abovementioned weather conditions. There is no significant difference in the hourly VMF variations between hazy days and fair weather. However, the hourly VMF variations on dusty, rainy, snowy, and thunderstorm days differ from those in fair weather, implying that these weather conditions significantly affect the atmospheric magnetic field. On hazy days, although the haze particles are charged, the VMF does not change compared with in fair weather, which suggests that the horizontal electric field generated by haze particles is an irrotational field. On dusty and snowy days, the heterogeneity of the charge distribution forms a rotational horizontal electric field, which can induce the VMF to disturb the atmospheric magnetic field. During rain and thunderstorms, the hourly variation in the VMF is larger than in dust and snow, which can be attributed to the rotational horizontal electric field generated by raindrops and clouds. In addition, the hourly variation in the VMF in thunderstorms is one order of magnitude larger than that during days without thunderstorms, indicating that the VMF induced by the cumulonimbus cloud electric field is more significant than that in other weather conditions.