Wu Ting, Lü Weitao, Liu Xiaoyang, et al. Characteristics of atmospheric electric field near the Earth' s surface under different weather conditions in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2009, 20(4): 394-401.
Citation: Wu Ting, Lü Weitao, Liu Xiaoyang, et al. Characteristics of atmospheric electric field near the Earth' s surface under different weather conditions in Beijing. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2009, 20(4): 394-401.

Characteristics of Atmospheric Electric Field near the Earth' s Surface Under Different Weather Conditions in Beijing

  • Received Date: 2008-05-20
  • Rev Recd Date: 2009-02-13
  • Publish Date: 2009-08-31
  • Based on the measurements of atmospheric electric field and various meteorological elements from the rooftop of a building (about 15 m high), the characteristics of atmospheric electric field in different weather conditions are analyzed. Criteria to select fair-weather days are set according to the data of solar radiation, height of cloud base, precipitation amount and wind speed. As a result, 173 days out of nearly fifteen months are determined as fair-weather days. Data of electric field as well as visibility, concentration of PM10 and absolute humidity of these days are averaged respectively to describe their mean diurnal variations and correlations between electric field and various factors. The result indicates that the diurnal variation of electric field in fair-weather exhibits a double oscillation with trough at 05:00 and 12:00 and peak at 07:00 and 23:00 (Beijing time). The seasonal variation of electric field is also obvious. Variation of fair-weather atmospheric electric field is closely related to the variation of aerosol concentrations. Aerosols can absorb small ions, which dominate the conductivity of air. As the concentration of aerosol increases, the concentration of small ions decreases, and the conductivity decreases as well. Finally, the electric field increases. As a result, the fair-weather atmospheric electric field is positively correlated with the aerosol concentrations. Mean diurnal variation waveshape of absolute humidity in fair weather is similar with that of atmospheric electric field. Under some conditions absolute humidity and electric field also exhibit almost simultaneous fluctuations lasting for several hours. These characteristics show the influence of water vapor on atmospheric electric field. In dusty weather, electric field measured at the observatory remains highly negative and changes rapidly. Various quantities in several strong dust events are turbulent to study relationships between different elements. Result shows that there is a strong correlation between electric field and PM10 which reflects the concentrations of sand particles. However, in most cases, there is no obvious correlation between electric field and wind speed. Theoretically, atmospheric electric field in dusty weather is simultaneously determined by quantity of sand particles and wind speed. But the result indicates that the quantity of sand particles plays more important role in the change of atmospheric electric field.
  • Fig. 1  Diurnal variation of fair-weather atmospheric electric field near the earth' s surface

    Fig. 2  Mean diurnal variation of fair-weather atmospheric electric field and visibility (a), PM10(b)

    Fig. 3  Diurnal variation of atmospheric electric field and absolute humidity (a) mean variation in fair weather, (b) on 16 Oct 2004

    Fig. 4  Diurnal variation of atmospheric electric field, PM10 and wind speed in dusty weather on 23 Mar 2005 (a) and 19 Apr 2005 (b)

    Fig. 5  Rapid change of electric field in dusty weather on 19 Apr 2005

    Fig. 6  Linear fitting of average value (a) and extreme value (b) of electric field and PM10 in dusty weather

    Table  1  General information of synchronous data

    Table  2  Duration of each dust event, everage and extreme value of electronic field, PM10 and wind speed

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    • Received : 2008-05-20
    • Accepted : 2009-02-13
    • Published : 2009-08-31

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