Charge Moment Change Research Articles

The nature and average magnitude of the sources of transient excitation of Schumann resonances

The amplitude-frequency spectra of 100 ELF transient electromagnetic disturbances propagated within the Earth-ionosphere cavity and received in Cornwall, England, have been determined in absolute units. Using a simplified analysis, based on computed spectra, the current moment of the average source discharge has been estimated. The current moment of the derived source decays exponentially with time, with a time constant of 28 msec. The total charge moment change during the discharge is inferred to be 4 × 10 6 C.m. Waveforms of the signals generated by the source model have been computed and are compared with observed waveforms.