Abstract
The problem with the penetration of electric fields from atmospheric near-Earth electric current sources to the ionosphere is investigated both within the dynamic simulations of the Maxwell equations in the frequency domain and within the simplified quasi-electrostatic approach. Two cases of the geomagnetic field lines are considered. The first case is the penetration of the geomagnetic field lines deeply into the magnetosphere (open field lines), whereas the second one is the return of these lines into the Earth’s surface (closed field lines). The proper boundary conditions are formulated. It is demonstrated that in the case of the open field lines the results of the dynamic simulations differ essentially from the quasi-electrostatic approach, which is not valid there. In the case of the closed field lines, the results of simulations are practically the same both within the dynamic approach and within the quasi-electrostatic one. From realistic values of the densities of atmospheric electric currents ~0.1 µA/m2, the values of the electric fields within the ionosphere F-layer may reach about 1–10 mV/m.
Highlights
Examples of physical processes making a contribution to the preparation of probable precursors of the natural hazards are radon emanation and charging aerosols [1,2], formation of charge layers in the atmosphere [10], formation of a large electric field in the mesosphere [7,8], variations of very low frequency (VLF) field in the waveguide Earth-Ionosphere [3,5,16,22], total electron content (TEC) variations in the ionosphere [20,21], etc.; these processes, in general, are of synergetic character [6,9,15,18]
The resulting electric fields, together with AGW, affect the ionosphere, causing noticeable disturbances of the total electron content (TEC) [58], variations in the penetration frequency foF2 [61], variations in the characteristics of VLF waves propagating in the waveguide Earth-Ionosphere and other phenomena, some of which are considered in the processes of tropical cyclone/hurricane formation, as the corresponding precursors [62]
The penetration of an electric field through the lithosphere (Earth)-atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere (LEAIM) system is of a dynamic nature, in particular, in the presence of external current sources exciting the electromagnetic fields in the lower atmosphere or lithosphere
Summary
The problem of the lithosphere (Earth)-atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere (LEAIM) coupling has been investigated for a long time [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22] with special attention to the preparation of natural hazards and their ionospheric effects. Hereinafter, an external current is understood as a current that characterizes a given source, which is not determined by a self-consistent calculation based on the properties of the medium in which the excitations are investigated, but “assigned” and in this sense is “external” in relation to the given system, in which perturbations are sought [35] The consequence of this is the inevitable rejection of any claims for an adequate determination of the components of the electric field in the region where the external current is specified, i.e., in the lower atmosphere. The external current only simulates the real current generated in the lower atmosphere by all the physical processes taking place in a self-consistent manner, but at the same time, it makes it possible to determine the field penetrating the upper ionosphere/magnetosphere. In the case of closed field lines, the results of simulations are practically the same both within the dynamic approach and within the quasi-electrostatic one
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