Hale, Penn State 9405113 The objective of this research is to identify and describe the major sources of atmospheric electromagnetic energy in the region of its highest spectral density. In addition to known sources of slowly varying lightning currents (e.g. "continuing currents") and turbulent space charge, two other lightning-related sources have been identified: the "ULF" mechanism whose waveshape is controlled by the middle atmosphere conductivity profile, and "slow tails" which arguably contains most of the "external" energy due to lightning. The theory proposed here is approximately verified by a computer calculation, but is still subject to theoretical, computer, and experimental verification. This research's goal is to determine which mechanism is dominant in the Schumman resonance (SR) range, as SR measurements have been suggested as an indicator of global change.
