Atmospheric Noise Measurements in the Garden: Detecting Universalities in Inter-Spheric Waiting Time Statistics

Abstract

Lightning flashes result in an instantaneous emission of electromagnetic (EM) waves that encompass a broad spectrum of frequencies in the domain of radio waves. The signature of these impulses in the region of the very low frequency (VLF) of radio waves and bellow are called spherics. These impulsive signals traverse great distances in the waveguide between the Earth’s ionosphere and its surface. Due to the abundance of lightnings the lower end of the EM spectrum is dominated by the waveforms of these emission. It is called atmospheric radio noise because of its origin. This article outlines a straightforward approach for capturing spherics activity within the VLF radio wave range. Employing data processing techniques, we pinpoint the timestamps of spherics within time series data. The distribution of inter-spheric times is analyzed across various detection threshold levels. Utilizing recordings spanning two distinct years and seasons, we replicate the established form of the inter-spheric time distribution described in the literature. Notably, we demonstrate that by rescaling the time intervals between spherics with the mean time for a specific recording and given detection threshold, the distributions collapse to a master curve. This universal pattern is accurately characterized by a single-parameter mean-scaled Gamma distribution. Additionally, we note the similarities in the distribution of inter-spheric times with patterns found in earthquake recurrence times.