HR: 0800h
AN: AE31A-0033    [Abstracts]
TI: Estimations of Current Densities Above, Below, and Within a Thunderstorm
AU: * Ray, B
EM: bray@olemiss.edu
AF: The University of Mississippi, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY, LEWIS HALL, UNIVERSITY, MS 38677,
AU: Marshall, T C
EM: marshall@phy.olemiss.edu
AF: The University of Mississippi, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY, LEWIS HALL, UNIVERSITY, MS 38677,
AU: Stolzenburg, M
EM: mstolzen@phy.olemiss.edu
AF: The University of Mississippi, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY, LEWIS HALL, UNIVERSITY, MS 38677,
AB: Thunderstorms are believed to be the main generators in the Global Electric Circuit (GEC). In this presentation we look at the time history of conduction current density above, below, and within a thunderstorm by combining ground and balloon electric field measurements with assumed conductivity profiles. We will compare below- cloud conduction currents to estimates of corona currents. The measurements at the ground allow us to estimate the Maxwell current density produced by the thunderstorm. We find that the ground measurements sometimes provide a good estimation of the current density above the storm. Combining the ground measurements with in- cloud conduction current measurements gives a lower bound on the storm's generator current density.
DE: 3304 Atmospheric electricity
DE: 3324 Lightning
SC: Atmospheric and Space Electricity [AE]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting