Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely
Stratiform clouds acquire charge at their upper and lower horizontal boundaries due to vertical current flow in the global electric circuit. Cloud charge is expected to influence microphysical processes, but understanding is restricted by the infrequent in-situ measurements available. For stratiform...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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American Geophysical Union
2017
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| _version_ | 1826257227361550336 |
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| author | Harrison, R Nicoll, K Aplin, K |
| author_facet | Harrison, R Nicoll, K Aplin, K |
| author_sort | Harrison, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Stratiform clouds acquire charge at their upper and lower horizontal boundaries due to vertical current flow in the global electric circuit. Cloud charge is expected to influence microphysical processes, but understanding is restricted by the infrequent in-situ measurements available. For stratiform cloud bases below 1 km in altitude, the cloud base charge modifies the surface electric field beneath, allowing a new method of remote determination. Combining continuous cloud height data during 2015-2016 from a laser ceilometer with electric field mill data, cloud base charge is derived using a horizontal charged disk model. The median daily cloud base charge density found was -0.86 nCm<sup>-2</sup> from 43 days’ data. This is consistent with a uniformly charged region ~ 40 m thick at the cloud base, now confirming that negative cloud base charge is a common feature of terrestrial layer clouds. This technique can also be applied to planetary atmospheres and volcanic plumes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:14:48Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:043fa588-b92b-4a83-afb8-7310eb71f438 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:14:48Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:043fa588-b92b-4a83-afb8-7310eb71f4382022-03-26T08:50:47ZEvaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotelyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:043fa588-b92b-4a83-afb8-7310eb71f438Symplectic Elements at OxfordAmerican Geophysical Union2017Harrison, RNicoll, KAplin, KStratiform clouds acquire charge at their upper and lower horizontal boundaries due to vertical current flow in the global electric circuit. Cloud charge is expected to influence microphysical processes, but understanding is restricted by the infrequent in-situ measurements available. For stratiform cloud bases below 1 km in altitude, the cloud base charge modifies the surface electric field beneath, allowing a new method of remote determination. Combining continuous cloud height data during 2015-2016 from a laser ceilometer with electric field mill data, cloud base charge is derived using a horizontal charged disk model. The median daily cloud base charge density found was -0.86 nCm<sup>-2</sup> from 43 days’ data. This is consistent with a uniformly charged region ~ 40 m thick at the cloud base, now confirming that negative cloud base charge is a common feature of terrestrial layer clouds. This technique can also be applied to planetary atmospheres and volcanic plumes. |
| spellingShingle | Harrison, R Nicoll, K Aplin, K Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title | Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title_full | Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title_short | Evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| title_sort | evaluating stratiform cloud base charge remotely |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT harrisonr evaluatingstratiformcloudbasechargeremotely AT nicollk evaluatingstratiformcloudbasechargeremotely AT aplink evaluatingstratiformcloudbasechargeremotely |