scholarly journals Revisiting the long-term decreasing trend of atmospheric electric potential gradient measured at Nagycenk, Hungary, Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Buzás ◽  
Veronika Barta ◽  
Tamás Horváth ◽  
József Bór
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Electric Potential ◽  
Potential Gradient ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Shielding Effect ◽  
Measurement Site ◽  
Term Variation ◽  
Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient

Abstract. In 2003, a decreasing trend has been reported in the long-term (1962–2001) fair weather atmospheric electric potential gradient (PG) measured in the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory (NCK, 47°38' N, 16°43' E), Hungary, Central Europe. The origin of this reduction has been the subject of a long-standing debate, due to a group of trees near the measurement site which reached significant height since the measurements of PG have started. Those trees have contributed to the lowering of the ambient vertical electric field due to their electrostatic shielding effect. In the present study, we attempt to reconstruct the true long-term variation of the vertical atmospheric field at NCK. The time-dependent shielding effect of trees at the measurement site was calculated to remove the corresponding bias from the recorded time series. A numerical model based on electrostatic theory was set up to take into account the electrostatic shielding of the local environment. The validity of the model was verified by on-site measurement campaigns. The changing height of the trees between 1962 and 2017 was derived from national average age-height diagrams for each year. Modelling the time-dependent electrical shielding effect of the trees at NCK revealed that local effects played a pivotal role in the long-term decrease. The results suggest that earlier attempts could not quantify the shielding effect of the trees at NCK accurately. It was found that the reconstructed PG time series at NCK exhibits a significant increase between 1962 and 1997 followed by a decaying trend since 1997. It is pointed out that long-term variation in summertime and wintertime PG averages should be analyzed separately as these may contribute to trends in the annual mean values rather differently.

scholarly journals Revisiting the long-term decreasing trend of atmospheric electric potential gradient measured at Nagycenk, Hungary, Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-640
Author(s):  
Attila Buzás ◽  
Veronika Barta ◽  
Tamás Horváth ◽  
József Bór
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Electric Field ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Electric Potential ◽  
Potential Gradient ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Shielding Effect ◽  
Term Variation ◽  
Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient

Abstract. In 2003, a decreasing trend was reported in the long-term (1962–2001) fair weather atmospheric electric potential gradient (PG) measured in the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory (NCK; 47∘38′ N, 16∘43′ E), Hungary, Central Europe. The origin of this reduction has been the subject of a long-standing debate, due to a group of trees near the measurement site which reached significant height since the measurements have started. Those trees have contributed to the lowering of the ambient vertical electric field due to their electrostatic shielding effect. In the present study, we attempt to reconstruct the true long-term variation of the vertical atmospheric electric field at NCK. The time-dependent shielding effect of trees at the measurement site was calculated to remove the corresponding bias from the recorded time series. A numerical model based on electrostatic theory was set up to take into account the electrostatic shielding of the local environment. The validity of the model was verified by on-site measurement campaigns. The changing height of the trees between 1962 and 2017 was derived from national-average age–height diagrams for each year. Modelling the time-dependent electrical shielding effect of the trees at NCK revealed that local effects played a pivotal role in the long-term decrease. The results suggest that earlier attempts could not quantify the shielding effect of the trees at NCK accurately. In this work it is found that the reconstructed PG time series at NCK exhibits an increase between 1962 and 1997 followed by a decaying trend since 1997. It is pointed out that long-term variation in summertime and wintertime PG averages should be analysed separately as these may contribute to trends in the annual mean values rather differently.

Investigating the long-term variation of atmospheric electric potential gradient at Nagycenk, Hungary, Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Buzas ◽  
Veronika Barta ◽  
József Bór ◽  
Tamás Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Atmospheric Electricity ◽  
Electrical Potential ◽  
Potential Gradient ◽  
Electric Circuit ◽  
Geophysical Research ◽  
Term Variation ◽  
Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient

<p><span><span>The atmospheric electric potential gradient (PG, the reverse of the atmospheric vertical electric field) is commonly measured near the ground. The PG plays a pivotal role in studying the global electric circuit (GEC) which comprises all large scale quasi-static electrical processes occurring in between the Earth's surface and the lower ionosphere [1]. Therefore, long-term, coherent PG measurements are of high importance in atmospheric electricity research. Nevertheless, it is a challenging task to use PG as a reliable diagnostic tool for investigating global changes in Earth’s electromagnetic environment because of its high variability. </span></span></p><p> </p><p><span><span>There are few PG datasets around the globe which are long enough and have been recorded continuously for decades. One of the datasets that fulfil these requirements has been recorded in the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory, Nagycenk, Hungary, Central Europe (NCK, </span></span><span>47°38’ N, 16°43’ E</span><span><span>). A necessary correction of the recorded PG time series due to the time-dependent shielding effect of nearby trees at NCK was introduced earlier [2,3]. In this study, the corrected long-term (1962-2009) variation of PG at NCK is exhibited and discussed.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span><span>In the present study, the behaviour of annual minima, maxima, means, and summer and winter means of the PG at NCK are investigated. As these PG time-series exhibited quite different characteristics, the joint analysis of these data is required. The long-term variation of these PG time series can be divided into three periods: the first period (1962-1985) is characterized by a rather steep increase and is mostly driven by the wintertime data. The increase continues with a moderate magnitude and less significantly in the second period (1986-1997) where summertime data dominate the change, whereas there is a pronounced reduction of the PG in the third period (1997-2009) with almost equal magnitude in both the winter- and summertime records. These observed trends are confirmed by independent PG observations made at other measuring sites (e.g., the Swider Observatory, Poland).</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span><span>The PG at NCK is generally greater in winter than in summer, which is a well-known phenomenon at northern hemisphere continental stations [4]. The annual minima, however, do not comply with this trend in every year. The month with the lowest average PG is in late spring (May) in most years of the examined epoch at NCK but minimum values occur in autumn and winter months as well.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span><span>References:</span></span></p><p><span><span>[1] Rycroft, M. J., Israelsson, S., and Price, C.: The global atmospheric electric circuit, solar activity and climate change, J. Atmos. Sol-Terr. Phy., 62, 1563–1576, 2000.</span></span></p><p><span><span>[2] Buzás, A., Barta, V., Steinbach, P., and Bór, J.: Impact of local environmental conditions on atmospheric electrical potential gradient measurements, Geophysical Research Abstracts, 19, EGU2017-1193-1, 2017.</span></span></p><p><span><span>[3] Buzás, A., Horváth, T., Barta, V., and Bór, J.: Revisiting the decreasing trend of atmospheric electrical potential gradient measured in Central Europe at Nagycenk, Hungary, Geophysical Research Abstracts, 20, EGU2018-6723, 2018.</span></span></p><p><span><span>[4] Chalmers, J. A.: Atmospheric Electricity, second edition, Pergamon Press, London, pp. 168-169 1967.</span></span></p>

scholarly journals The sdB pulsating star V391 Peg and its putative giant planet revisited after 13 years of time-series photometric data

2018 ◽  
Vol 611 ◽  
pp. A85 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Silvotti ◽  
S. Schuh ◽  
S.-L. Kim ◽  
R. Lutz ◽  
M. Reed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Previous Analysis ◽  
Time Derivative ◽  
Giant Planet ◽  
Sine Wave ◽  
Pulsation Period ◽  
Pulsation Frequency ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Term Variation

V391 Peg (alias HS 2201+2610) is a subdwarf B (sdB) pulsating star that shows both p- and g-modes. By studying the arrival times of the p-mode maxima and minima through the O–C method, in a previous article the presence of a planet was inferred with an orbital period of 3.2 years and a minimum mass of 3.2 MJup. Here we present an updated O–C analysis using a larger data set of 1066 h of photometric time series (~2.5× larger in terms of the number of data points), which covers the period between 1999 and 2012 (compared with 1999–2006 of the previous analysis). Up to the end of 2008, the new O–C diagram of the main pulsation frequency (f1) is compatible with (and improves) the previous two-component solution representing the long-term variation of the pulsation period (parabolic component) and the giant planet (sine wave component). Since 2009, the O–C trend of f1 changes, and the time derivative of the pulsation period (p.) passes from positive to negative; the reason of this change of regime is not clear and could be related to nonlinear interactions between different pulsation modes. With the new data, the O–C diagram of the secondary pulsation frequency (f2) continues to show two components (parabola and sine wave), like in the previous analysis. Various solutions are proposed to fit the O–C diagrams of f1 and f2, but in all of them, the sinusoidal components of f1 and f2 differ or at least agree less well than before. The nice agreement found previously was a coincidence due to various small effects that are carefully analyzed. Now, with a larger dataset, the presence of a planet is more uncertain and would require confirmation with an independent method. The new data allow us to improve the measurement of p. for f1 and f2: using only the data up to the end of 2008, we obtain p.1 = (1.34 ± 0.04) × 10−12 and p.2 = (1.62 ± 0.22) × 10−12. The long-term variation of the two main pulsation periods (and the change of sign of p.1) is visible also in direct measurements made over several years. The absence of peaks near f1 in the Fourier transform and the secondary peak close to f2 confirm a previous identification as l = 0 and l = 1, respectively, and suggest a stellar rotation period of about 40 days. The new data allow constraining the main g-mode pulsation periods of the star.

Seasonal to multi-annual speedup and slowdown of Greenland outlet glaciers inferred from time-dependent remote sensing observations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizz Ultee ◽  
Bryan Riel ◽  
Brent Minchew
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Flow Velocity ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Surface Velocity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Ice Flow

<p>The rate of ice flux from the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean depends on the ice flow velocity through outlet glaciers. Ice flow velocity, in turn, evolves in response to multiple geographic and environmental forcings at different timescales. For example, velocity may vary daily in response to ocean tides, seasonally in response to surface air temperature, and multi-annually in response to long-term trends in climate. The satellite observations processed as part of the NASA MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Sheet Velocity Map allow us to analyse variations in ice surface velocity at multiple timescales. Here, we decompose short-term and long-term signals in time-dependent velocity fields for Greenland outlet glaciers based on the methods of Riel et al. (2018). Patterns found in short-term signals can constrain basal sliding relations and ice rheology, while the longer-term signals hint at decadal in/stability of outlet glaciers. We present example velocity time series for outlets including Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Isbrae) and Helheim Glacier, and we highlight features indicative of dynamic drawdown or advective restabilization. Finally, we comment on the capabilities of a time series analysis software under development for glaciological applications.</p>

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