Abstract
In the following five chapters, we deal with electric fields and currents generated in thunderstorms. Thunderstorms behave like batteries which are connected with the highly conducting ionosphere and earth via the barely conducting lower and middle atmosphere (Fig. 3.1). The passive electric quasicontinuous current flowing outside the thunderstorm regions down to the earth is part of the global electric circuit. In this chapter, we outline some characteristics of the global electric circuit. In the following chapters, we discuss the thunderstorm as area of charge separation, lightning events as breakdown electric currents, and sferics as the electromagnetic radiation of the lightning currents.
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Volland, H. (1984). Global Electric Circuit. In: Atmospheric Electrodynamics. Physics and Chemistry in Space, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69813-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69813-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69815-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69813-2
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