Jeremy
N Thomas Research Interests
Thunderstorm
electrification and the global electrical circuit [Publication 8]
Two
significant
open questions in atmospheric electricity are:
1) What is the
electrification mechanism for thunderclouds?
2) What drives the
global electric circuit that flows from the ionosphere to the Earth?
In my work, I
address these questions with in situ measurements. One of my recent
case study
conclusions is that the majority of the total current in the global
electrical
circuit is attributed to the quasi-static thundercloud charge, rather
than
lightning, which supports the classical Wilson model.