Nature of the sunrise effect in daily electric field variations at Kamchatka: 2. Electric field frequency variations

Abstract

The power spectra of time variations in the electric field strength in the near-Earth’s atmosphere and in the geomagnetic field horizontal component, which were simultaneously observed at the Paratunka observatory (φ = 52°58.3′ N; λ = 158°14.9′ E) in September 1999, have been studied. The periods of the day (including sunrise, sunset, and night) have been considered. It has been indicated that oscillations with periods T ∼ 2.0–2.5 h are present in the power spectra of these parameters during the day. The intensity of these oscillations increases noticeably and the oscillations in the band of periods T < 1 h increase simultaneously in the field strength power spectra at sunrise. The variations in the argument of the cross-spectrum of these parameters indicated that oscillations in the 2.0–2.5 h period band are caused by sources that are located above the ionospheric dynamo region; at the same time, oscillations in the 0.5–1 h period band are caused by sources in the lower atmosphere. A possible mechanism by which these oscillations are generated, related to the vortex motion of convective cells that originate at sunrise in the boundary atmospheric layer, is proposed.