Abstract
A global circuit model is constructed to study responses of air-earth current and electric field to a variation of atmospheric electrical conductivity profile. The model includes the orography and the global distribution of thunderstorm generators. The conductivity varies with latitude and exponentially with altitude. The thunderstorm cloud is assumed to be a current generator with a positive source at the top and a negative one at the bottom. The UT diurnal variations of the global current and the ionospheric potential are evaluated considering the local-time dependence of thunderstorm activity. The global distributions of the electric field and the air-earth current are affected by the orography and latitudinal effects. Assuming a variation of conductivity profile, responses of atmospheric electrical parameters are investigated. The non-uniform decrement of the conductivity with altitude increases both the electric field and the air-earth current. The result suggests a possibility that the increment of the electric field and the air-earth current after a solar flare may be caused by this scheme, due to Forbush decrease.
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