EAGER: Monitoring the Global Electric Circuit from Ocean Straits

一个多世纪以来，人们已经知道，大气相对于地球表面是带正电的，一种全球分布的向下的“公平天气”电流通过大气，试图平衡这种电荷差异。这种电荷不平衡和向下磁场持续存在的观测结果导致了全球大气电路（GC）的理论，其中雷暴和带电云的过程提供了一个向上的电流来平衡向下的天气电流。这项研究将集中于海洋成分在GC中的作用。对海洋电流的测量以前还没有人做过。目前的研究将探索这一新的领域。如果成功，它将为GC提供新的证据。知识价值。气相色谱是地球全球电系统的主要组成部分，由于其在全球气候变化中的推断作用而引起极大的兴趣。尽管如此，GC理论中甚至有一些非常基本的元素还没有得到解决，因为还没有对这个行星尺度回路的时间变异性进行充分的描述来检验这些想法。近一个世纪以来，对GC的持续监测既是观测的重点，也是一个未完成的目标。全球环流似乎既是全球温度计，也是地球天气系统中的一个活跃元素。气相科学的未来发展将取决于气相过程的持续监测和气相过程数值模型的建立。这项工作以一种高度原创的方法解决了这些目标，旨在建立从海洋海峡进行的长期GC监测。更广泛的影响。在地球电动力学中，气相色谱电流确实贯穿了已经被强烈分离的地理研究领域（空气、土壤、水）。通过对海洋气相洋流的测量，本研究可以更好地了解地球电动力学，并将气相洋流整合到地球系统和气候模型中。

It has been known for over a century that the atmosphere is positively charged with respect to the earth's surface, and that a globally-distributed downward "fairweather" electric current through the atmosphere attempts to equilibrate this charge disparity. The observation that this charge imbalance and the downward field persist has lead to a theory for a Global atmospheric electric Circuit (GC), in which processes in thunderstorms and electrified clouds provide an upward current balancing the downward fairweather currents. This research will concentrate on the role of the ocean component in the GC. Measurements of electric currents in oceans have not been done before. The current study will explore this new area. If successful, it will provide new evidence for the GC. Intellectual Merit. The GC is a primary component of the earth's global electrical system and is of great interest due to its inferred role in global climate change. Despite this, there are even very basic elements in the GC theory that have not been resolved because an adequate description of the temporal variability of this planetary-scale circuit has not been available for testing ideas. For nearly a century, continuous monitoring of the GC has been both an observational priority and an unaccomplished goal. The global circuit appears to be both a global thermometer and an active element in the Earth's weather system. Future progress in GC science will hinge on the establishment of programs for the continuous, sustained monitoring of the GC, and on the development of numerical models of the GC processes. The work addresses these goals with a highly original approach aimed at establishing long-term GC monitoring from ocean straits.Broader Impacts. The GC currents literally thread through what has been strongly separated geographic domains of study (air, earth, water) in the earth's electrodynamics. This study may provide a better understanding of earth's electrodynamics through the measurements of GC currents in oceans, and also integrates GC into the earth system and climate models.