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We report ground-based measurements of the atmospheric electric field (Ez = −potential gradient (PG)) and current density (Jz) that were conducted at two locations in Israel. One is at the Emilio Segre cosmic ray station located on Mt. Hermon (34.45° N, 2020 m AMSL) in northern Israel near the Syrian-Lebanon border, and the other is at the Wise astronomical observatory in the Negev desert highland plateau of southern Israel (31.18° N, 870 m AMSL). We searched for possible effects of strong, short-term solar events on the potential gradient and the vertical current density, as disruptions to the global electric circuit are often observed following strong solar events. The first case study (St. Patrick's Day, 17 March 2015) was classified as the strongest event of 2015. The second case study (8 September 2017) was categorized as the strongest event of 2017 and one of the twenty strongest events on record to date. The results show that the electrical parameters measured at ground level at both stations were not affected during the two massive proton events and the ensuing geomagnetic storms. The magnetospheric shielding in lower latitudes is strong enough to shield against the flux of energetic particles from solar events, obscuring any impact that may be noticeable above the local daily variations induced by local meteorological conditions (aerosol concentrations, clouds, high humidity, and wind speed), which were investigated as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial to monitor the levels of Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) to which the general population may be exposed and compare them to the limits defined in the current standards, in view of the rapid rise of communication services and the prospects of a connected society. A high number of people visits shopping malls and since these locations usually have several indoor antennas close to the public, it is therefore a kind of place that must be evaluated. Thus, this work presents measurements of the electric field in a shopping mall located in Natal, Brazil. We proposed a set of six measurement points, following two criteria: places with great the flow of people and the presence of one or more Distributed Antenna System (DAS), co-sited or not with WiFi access points. Results are presented and discussed in terms of the distance to DAS (conditions: near and far) and flow density of people in the mall (scenarios: low and high number of people). The highest peaks of electric field measured were 1.96 and 3.26 V/m, respectively corresponding to 5% and 8% of the limits defined by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of a systematic study of the ionospheric electric field in the Auroral Oval (AO) region in the southern hemisphere. We exploit one year of electric field measurements taken by the Electric Field Detector (EFD) on board the Chinese Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite-01 (CSES-01), flying at around 500 km altitude in a sun-synchronous orbit. We exploit the high temporal resolution of the EFD to devise a new technique for the detection of CSES-01 crossing of the AO using electric field measurements only. This new technique combines a Median-Weighted Local Variance Measure with Fast Iterative Filtering to automatically isolate high levels of electromagnetic activity caused by, e.g., particle precipitation and Field Aligned Currents (FACs) at auroral latitudes. We validate this new method against other standard proxies, such as the single-FAC product from the Swarm mission and the auroral radiance emission measured by the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI) units on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) constellation. Furthermore, we identify ∼3000 orbits (out of a dataset of ∼10,000) where CSES-01 crosses the AO boundary under conditions of high geomagnetic activity. This dataset represents the first step in the systematic study of the auroral electric field, with many potential applications to space weather, thanks to the large amount of continuous observations of the ionosphere by CSES-01 and the forthcoming CSES-02 mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-based measurements of the atmospheric electric field have been recorded continuously since 2013 at the Wise Observatory, located in the Negev Desert Highland in southern Israel. The data have been used for defining the characteristics of fair weather and to identify the signatures of dust storms, lightning activity, and clouds. We report here on new results from observations of the variability of the electric field (transformed into the potential gradient, PG) during several foggy days, along with meteorological data on wind speed and relative humidity. The results show a substantial increase in the electric field (up to 400–650 V m−1) compared with the mean fair weather values observed at the site (180–190 V m−1). This increase is especially clear during times of high relative humidity values (95%+) and low wind speed (<3 m s−1). This increase is likely a consequence of the reduction in the atmospheric conductivity at low levels, due to the attachment of charge carriers to fog droplets. Based on this discovery, it is suggested that continuously monitoring the electric field may offer an additional operational tool to alert for the onset and termination of fog at specific locations, such as airports and harbors, where this nowcasting capability is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The AMPERA (Atmospheric Measurement of Potential and ElectRic field on Aircraft) electric field network was integrated on the Falcon 20 (F20) of SAFIRE (the French facility for airborne research) in the framework of EXAEDRE (EXploiting new Atmospheric Electricity Data for Research and the Environment) project. From September 2018, an in-flight campaign was performed over Corsica (France) to investigate the electrical activity in thunderstorms. During this campaign, eight scientific flights were done inside or in the vicinity of a thunderstorm. The purpose of this paper is to present the AMPERA system and the atmospheric electrostatic field recorded during the flights, and particularly during the pass inside electrified clouds, in which the aircraft was struck by lightning. The highest value of atmospheric electrostatic field recorded during these flights was around 79 kV·m−1 at 8400 m of altitude. A normalization of these fields is done by computing the reduced atmospheric electrostatic field to take into account the altitude effect (ratio between the atmospheric electrostatic field and the air density). Most of the significant values of reduced atmospheric electrostatic field magnitude retrieved during this campaign occur between around 5.5 and 9.5 km and are included between 50 and 100 kV·m−1. The highest value measured of the reduced atmospheric electrostatic field is 194 kV·m−1 during the lightning strike of the F20. The merging of these results with data from former campaigns suggests that there is a threshold (depending of the aircraft size) for the striking of an aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of intense E-fields is a fundamental need in various research areas. Integrated optical E-field sensors (IOESs) have important advantages and are potentially suitable for intense E-field detection. This paper comprehensively reviews the development and applications of several types of IOESs over the last 30 years, including the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), coupler interferometer (CI) and common path interferometer (CPI). The features of the different types of IOESs are compared, showing that the MZI has higher sensitivity, the CI has a controllable optical bias, and the CPI has better temperature stability. More specifically, the improvement work of applying IOESs to intense E-field measurement is illustrated. Finally, typical uses of IOESs in the measurement of intense E-fields are demonstrated, including application areas such as E-fields with different frequency ranges in high-voltage engineering, simulated nuclear electromagnetic pulse in high-power electromagnetic pulses, and ion-accelerating field in high-energy physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]