Comparison of the Atmospheric Electric Field from Three Global Stations in 2021

The atmospheric electric field is an important physical parameter used to study the state of charge density distribution between the earth and the ionosphere, and its daily variation characteristics reflect the underlying atmospheric electrical properties in a region. In this paper, we used atmospheric electric field data from three global observation stations (the Xanthi station, the Zhuanghe station, and the University of Reading station) from January to December 2021 and then combined these data with meteorological data and geomagnetic activity data to filter the fair-day atmospheric electric field data and plot the average fair-weather atmospheric electric field curve. Then, we compared different sunrise and sunset times and PM 2.5 concentrations, analyzed the seasonal differences for each station, the differences among the three stations, and the difference between their curves and the Carnegie curve, and finally concluded that the difference among them showed positive correlations with PM 2.5 concentrations. The other possible reasons and the entire shape of the average fair-weather atmospheric electric field curve for a defined station are not affected by the season, including the location of peaks and valleys, and the overall variation have been also revealed.

Automated summary

In this paper, the authors analyzed the atmospheric electric field data from three global observation stations and combined it with meteorological and geomagnetic activity data. They filtered the fair-day atmospheric electric field data, plotted the average fair-weather atmospheric electric field curve, and compared it with sunrise, sunset times, and PM2.5 concentrations. The results showed positive correlations between the differences and PM2.5 concentrations.