Origin of big DC electric fields in the mesosphere Original Research Article

It is suggested that the large (V/m) vertical electric fields observed in the mesosphere by Russian and US groups are frequently caused by polarization of the magnetosphere induced by ELF “slow tails” due to lightning. This explains a number of features of the fields, including their tendency to appear below “ledges” at a conductivity value of order 10−10 S/m, their correlation with the “Carnegie curve” of diurnal variation of thunderstorm activity, and their tendency to appear as relatively constant with altitude fields in North America and as layered “dipole” fields in the Eastern Hemisphere.