Data · dataset · 2026
A TRMM assessment of the composition of the generator current that supplies the global electric circuit
Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research
Description
The Peterson et al. (2015, ) passive microwave electric field retrieval is applied to 15years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite observations to estimate the amount of Wilson current supplied to the Global Electric Circuit from individual electrified cloud features (ECFs), which are identified as contiguous precipitating cloud regions that produce Wilson current. Current contributions from 37 million ECFs sampled by TRMM are used to examine the composition of the DC generator current.
Thunderstorms are found to supply 61% of the total retrieved current, while electrified shower clouds provide the remaining 39%. ECFs over land contribute 38% of the total current, while the ocean contributions are divided between coastal oceanic regions (35%) and the open ocean (27%). The greatest share of the total TRMM-retrieved current comes large mesoscale features (>2x10(3)km(2) in area) and features that have peak 20-km electric fields in excess of 1kVm(-1).
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This combination of extent and intensity leads to total currents greater than 10A for a single ECF. The ranking of the tropical chimney regions by total current production is (1) the Americas (38%), (2) Asia (32%), and (3) Africa (15%). ECFs over the tropical Pacific Ocean contribute the remaining 15%.
The Africa chimney is most prominent in total lightning activity but lags behind the others in total DC current due to a reduced frequency of electrified weather and weaker per-storm electric fields and Wilson currents compared to the other chimneys.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page n2t.org/ark:/85065/d72z18dg ↗
documentation · download · from data ucar edu
Where it is published
- data.ucar.edu /dataset/a-trmm-assessment-of-the-composition-of-the-generator-… ↗
National Center for Atmospheric Research dataset page
landing page · from data ucar edu
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ucar.edu/api/3/action/package_show?id=a3cb2e1f-7bcd-4ff7-b311-d9985d1c8… ↗
metadata API · from data ucar edu
Topics
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science · Ocean & Atmospheric Science
- Inferred from text
- Geophysics 72% · Satellite remote sensing 65%
Provenance · 1 source records, 9 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Atmospheric Research | a3cb2e1f-7bcd-4ff7-b311-d9985d1c8d35 | 11 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[field].anzsrc:group:3706 | enrichment · data ucar edu | taxonomy-embedding@1.1.0 | title+keywords+description (72%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[modality].local:modality:remote-sensing | enrichment · data ucar edu | keyword-concept-rules@1.0.0 | title+description (65%) |
| created_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /notes |
| publication_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 |