OYESNSA

Multi Year Electric Field Study North Slope of Alaska (MYESNSA)

1 June 2021 - 1 June 2026

Lead Scientist: Chuntao Liu

Observatory: NSA

This campaign aims to improve our overall understanding of the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) of the atmosphere by deploying a CS110 electric field mill at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) station for one year. This high quality measurement of the electric field in the Arctic will fill the gap of lack of reliable electric field observations in the northern hemisphere. In recent years, electric field data that has been used to compare to global electrified cloud parameters have come from mainly the southern hemisphere. This field campaign aims to collect this much needed electric field data in the Arctic Circle to increase the sampling regions around the world. The North Slope of Alaska is an ideal location for measuring the electric field, because of its stably stratified boundary layer that exists due to the extremely cold temperatures. These measurements are critical in interpreting the tie between the fair weather electric field and global thunderstorm activity. If successful, there is a potential to utilize the relatively cheap and easily calibrated electric field measurements to monitor global thunderstorm activity in the long term.