pure and applied geophysics

, Volume 118, Issue 2, pp 765–774 | Cite as

Characteristics of rain electricity in Nigeria II — Experimental and theoretical relations

  • A. I. I. Ette
  • E. O. Oladiran
Article
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Abstract

Analysis of data, covering four rainy seasons, of rain current, point-discharge current and potential gradient reveal novel relations in the form
$$Q_{r + } /Q_{r - } = k_1 (T_{r + } /T_{r - } )^{1.1} $$
(i)
for rain charge and duration ratios; and
$$Q_{p - } /Q_{p + } = k_2 (T_{p - } /T_{p + } )^{1.1} $$
(ii)
for point charge and duration ratios, where thek's are constants; and
$$i_r = - \alpha (i_p - c)$$
(iii)
for rain and point-discharge current densities, where α has the same value for all types of rain andc is a constant controlled by the rainfall intensityR. For rain not associated with point discharge the relation takes the familiar form
$$i_r = - AR(E - \bar E)$$
Theoretical values are obtained for \ga andA on the basis of the Wilson ion-capture theory as worked out in detail by Whipple and Chalmers.

Key words

Point discharge Potential gradient Rain current Theoretical relations 
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Copyright information

© Birkhäuser Verlag 1980

Authors and Affiliations

  • A. I. I. Ette
    • 1
  • E. O. Oladiran
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PhysicsUniversity of IbadanIbadanNigeria

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