Economic method of oil production based on electrophoresis

Electrophoresis can be considered as a fundamentally new method of lifting oil without the use of producing wells and mechanical devices, with the help of which it is supposed to organize oil extraction from explored fields with a reduction in its cost by 70-80%. The source of electricity for the implementation of the proposed method of oil recovery based on electrophoresis can be a method of autonomous generation of electricity based on atmospheric electricity. This method is based on the operation of a natural generator consisting of the Earth, the atmosphere, the ionosphere and the Earth›s magnetic field.The proposed energy source is simple in design, convenient to use. As a result, the resulting energy is very cheap and environmentally friendly. The use of such an installation can be carried out in any area of the Earth. Keywords: oil production; electrophoresis; electric field; atmospheric electricity; carbon; the cost of lifting oil.

Thundercloud Electrostatic Field Measurements during the Inflight EXAEDRE Campaign and during Lightning Strike to the Aircraft

The AMPERA (Atmospheric Measurement of Potential and ElectRic field on Aircraft) electric field network was integrated on the Falcon 20 (F20) of SAFIRE (the French facility for airborne research) in the framework of EXAEDRE (EXploiting new Atmospheric Electricity Data for Research and the Environment) project. From September 2018, an in-flight campaign was performed over Corsica (France) to investigate the electrical activity in thunderstorms. During this campaign, eight scientific flights were done inside or in the vicinity of a thunderstorm. The purpose of this paper is to present the AMPERA system and the atmospheric electrostatic field recorded during the flights, and particularly during the pass inside electrified clouds, in which the aircraft was struck by lightning. The highest value of atmospheric electrostatic field recorded during these flights was around 79 kV·m−1 at 8400 m of altitude. A normalization of these fields is done by computing the reduced atmospheric electrostatic field to take into account the altitude effect (ratio between the atmospheric electrostatic field and the air density). Most of the significant values of reduced atmospheric electrostatic field magnitude retrieved during this campaign occur between around 5.5 and 9.5 km and are included between 50 and 100 kV·m−1. The highest value measured of the reduced atmospheric electrostatic field is 194 kV·m−1 during the lightning strike of the F20. The merging of these results with data from former campaigns suggests that there is a threshold (depending of the aircraft size) for the striking of an aircraft.

On the relationship of power lines outages caused by thunderstorms with Forbush decreases of cosmic rays

It is known that power lines outages often occur during thunderstorms. Here are the results of comparing of power lines outages in Yakutia from 2012 to 2018 with the database of Forbush-Storm events. This database contains information on geomagnetic storms and Forbush-decreases of cosmic rays from 1996 to 2018. There are 3 classes of the events: if these two ground-based manifestations of solar wind disturbances occur simultaneously (Forbush with Storm, F+S) or separately (Forbush without Storm, F-S and Storm without Forbush, S-F). For 7 years in the summer time, 73 power lines outages associated with thunderstorms were recorded. It is shown that in 56 cases these outages occurred simultaneously with (F-S) class, 16 – with (F+S) class, and only in 1 case lightning outages were not associated with Forbush-Storm events (-F-S). In 19 cases of (S-F) class, not a single lightning outage was recorded. This means that lightning outages on power lines are mainly associated with decreases in the cosmic rays intensity, and during geomagnetic storms, power transmission disruptions occur when storms are simultaneous with Forbush-decreases of cosmic rays. Apparently, this indicates the significance of the effect of cosmic rays on atmospheric electricity, and it is more significant than the effect of geomagnetic storms.

Electrification hypothesis of the absence of lice (Anoplura Leach, 1815) on bats (Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779)

Aim of this work is to substantiate the hypothesis that the absence of lice in bats is associated with the electrification of the surface of their body during the flight.Discussion. The paper analyzes the physical phenomenon of friction electrification, the triboelectric series of substances with special attention to the objects of atmospheric electricity, and the Cohen rule that relates the dielectric properties of a substance to its permittivity. The electrical properties of the atmosphere are described including the occurrence of a potential difference between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere and the mechanism of maintaining this potential as a result of charging the ground with negative electricity by thunderstorms. The results of experimental data on the formation of a positive electrostatic charge on the surface covers of insects and birds are presented. It is hypothesized that the hair and skin membranes of bats should also be positively electrified during flight. The reasons that prevent lice from living in electrified bat hair are described. It is proposed to explain the presence of developed sebaceous glands in bats as a way of discharging electrostatic charge before returning to the shelter and the bell structure of the hair cuticle as a device for retaining the secretion of sweat glands.Conclusion. The absence of lice in bats is a direct consequence of their adaptation to active flight.

Influence of Solar Wind on Secondary Cosmic Rays and Atmospheric Electricity

A relationship between the heliospheric magnetic field, atmospheric electric field, lightning activity, and secondary cosmic rays measured on the high mount of Lomnický Štít (2,634 m a.s.l.), Slovakia, during the declining phase of the solar cycle 24 is investigated with a focus on variations related to solar rotation (about 27 days). The secondary cosmic rays are detected using a neutron monitor and the detector system SEVAN, which distinguishes between different particles and energies. Using spectral analysis, we found distinct ∼27-day periodicities in variations of Bx and By components of the heliospheric magnetic field and in pressure-corrected measurements of secondary cosmic rays. The 27-day variations of secondary cosmic rays, on average, advanced and lagged the variations of Bx and By components by about 40° and −140°, respectively. Distinct 27-day periodicities were found both in the neutron monitor and the SEVAN upper and middle detector measurements. A nondominant periodicity of ∼27 days was also found for lightning activity. A cross-spectral analysis between fluctuation of the lightning activity and fluctuation of the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF) showed that fluctuation of the lightning activity was in phase and in antiphase with Bx and By components of the HMF, respectively, which is in agreement with previous studies investigating the influence of solar activity on lightning. On the other hand, the ∼27-day periodicity was not significant in the atmospheric electric field measured in Slovakia and Czechia. Therefore, no substantial influence of Bx and By on the atmospheric electric field was observed at these middle-latitude stations.

Tree Canopies Influence Ground Level Atmospheric Electrical and Biogeochemical Variability

Static electric fields in the atmosphere are increasingly recognized as interacting with various organisms over several levels of biological organization. Recently, a link between atmospheric electrical variations and biogeochemical processes has been established in the context of open fields, yet biological structures like trees produce substantial alterations in atmospheric electric properties. Here, we assess whether these structural changes affect the dynamics of the electrical landscape and its relation to geochemical processes. To this end, we theoretically assess how trees alter their surrounding electric fields and empirically compare the temporal dynamics of atmospheric potential gradients, positive ions in the near-ground level atmosphere and soil electrochemical properties in an open field and under a tree. The developed model of electric fields around trees provides insight into the extent to which trees shield the underlying electric landscape, revealing that a substantial increase in atmospheric potential gradient only marginally affects the electric field under the canopy. We further show that soil electrochemical properties are tied to the temporal dynamics of positive ion in the near-ground level atmosphere, and that the presence of a tree reduces the temporal variability in both ground level positive ion concentrations and soil redox potential. This suggests that a tree can alter the temporal variability in atmospheric electricity and soil electro-chemistry, thereby likely indirectly influencing soil microorganisms and processes as well as electro-sensitive organisms that perceive and utilize atmospheric electric fields.

Tamas I. Gombosi Receives 2020 John Adam Fleming Medal

Tamas I. Gombosi was awarded the 2020 John Adam Fleming Medal at the virtual AGU Fall Meeting in December. The medal is for “original research and technical leadership in geomagnetism, atmospheric electricity, aeronomy, space physics, and/or related sciences.”