A global model of thunderstorm electricity and the prediction of whistler duct formation

A two-dimensional numerical model is created to calculate the electric field and current that flow from a thunderstorm source into the global electrical circuit. The model includes a hemisphere in which the thunderstorm is located, an equalization layer, and a passive magnetic conjugate hemisphere. To maintain the fair weather electric field, the output current from the thunderstorm is allowed to spread out in the ionosphere or flow along the magnetic field lines into the conjugate hemisphere. The vertical current is constant up to $\sim$65 km, decays and is redirected horizontally in the ionosphere. Approximately half of the current that reaches the ionosphere flows along magnetic field lines into the conjugate hemisphere while the rest is spread out in the ionosphere and redirected to the fair weather portion of the storm hemisphere. Our results show that it is important to include a realistic model of the equalization layer to evaluate the role of thunderstorm charging of the global circuit. The mapping of thunderstorm electric fields at middle and subauroral latitudes into the magnetic equatorial plane is studied. The geomagnetic field lines are assumed to be dipolar above $\sim$150 km. The horizontal electric field computed in the ionosphere by our model is of sufficient size and shape for the formation of electron density irregularities in the magnetosphere. The mechanism involves a localized convection of ionization tubes by E x B drift. It is shown that the horizontal range of the electric field disturbance in the ionosphere must be within $\sim$160 km to produce density irregularities necessary for the formation of whistler ducts, well within the predicted size of thunderstorm produced electric fields. Although the electric field strength at ionospheric heights depends sensitively on the conductivity profile, the results presented show that whistler duct formation is possible by thunderstorm generated electric fields