Thunderbolts Forum v3.0

I wonder how much the addition to the atmosphere of metal aerosols from space debris is affecting the resistance of the atmosphere.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2313374120

Metals from spacecraft reentry in stratospheric aerosol particles

Significance
Measurements show that about 10% of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere contain aluminum and other metals that originated from the “burn-up” of satellites and rocket stages during reentry. Although direct health or environmental impacts at ground level are unlikely, these measurements have broad implications for the stratosphere and higher altitudes. With many more launches planned in the coming decades, metals from spacecraft reentry could induce changes in the stratospheric aerosol layer.

Abstract
Large increases in the number of low earth orbit satellites are projected in the coming decades [L. Schulz, K.-H. Glassmeier, Adv. Space Res. 67, 1002–1025 (2021)] with perhaps 50,000 additional satellites in orbit by 2030 [GAO, Large constellations of satellites: Mitigating environmental and other effects (2022)]. When spent rocket bodies and defunct satellites reenter the atmosphere, they produce metal vapors that condense into aerosol particles that descend into the stratosphere. So far, models of spacecraft reentry have focused on understanding the hazard presented by objects that survive to the surface rather than on the fate of the metals that vaporize. Here, we show that metals that vaporized during spacecraft reentries can be clearly measured in stratospheric sulfuric acid particles. Over 20 elements from reentry were detected and were present in ratios consistent with alloys used in spacecraft. The mass of lithium, aluminum, copper, and lead from the reentry of spacecraft was found to exceed the cosmic dust influx of those metals. About 10% of stratospheric sulfuric acid particles larger than 120 nm in diameter contain aluminum and other elements from spacecraft reentry. Planned increases in the number of low earth orbit satellites within the next few decades could cause up to half of stratospheric sulfuric acid particles to contain metals from reentry. The influence of this level of metallic content on the properties of stratospheric aerosol is unknown.

This information is actually pretty cool. I have previously searched for information on voltage gradients in Earth's crust but never found anything useful. It does seem to support my preliminary model of celestial body electric flow, based on Alfven's model of galactic Unipolar Inductor/Homopolar Generator. In the model, there is a constant flow of electrons flowing through the Earth with electrons entering the polar regions, traveling inside the earth toward the equators, then exiting the equators and looping back around toward the polar regions again.



The areas of the earth that have the highest resistance will create the largest voltage drops. Normally the lower atmosphere is the least conductive and least ionized and therefore has the highest resistance. We typically see about 100 volts per meter or 100,000 volts per kilometer of voltage drop along the surface of the earth near the equator. The crust typically is made up of semiconductor materials and conductive metals, therefore the voltage drop is much lower than in the atmosphere. The information previously posted shows 0.01 voltage per kilometer in the crust. During a solar storm, the resistance of the atmosphere will decrease due to higher ionization levels (ionized atmosphere conducts better than non-ionized) so the voltage drop across the atmosphere will decrease as well. This causes a higher voltage drop across the crust.

If you look at the following circuit diagram of 2 resistors in series, it may make things much clearer. We can consider R2 as the voltage across the crust and R1 to be the voltage across the atmosphere. If the total voltage from inside the earth to the outer atmosphere (v in the diagram) is 500,000 volts (wild guess), then if we decrease the resistance of the atmosphere (R1) then the voltage across R2 will increase.



The decrease in atmospheric electrical resistance would therefore cause more current flow through the circuit, causing more electrons to loop from the outer atmosphere in the equatorial region back toward the atmosphere at the poles, creating more visible aurora. The auroras can be considered a type of glow discharge due to the impact of electrons hitting the atmosphere at high velocities. My model is admittedly preliminary but the article does seem to support it.

Actually, it is back ... https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-activ ... a-updates/

As you all know, a massive sunspot caused the recent auroras throughout the world. (Turns out that same sunspot is returning from its turn around the sun and it hasn't disappeared yet.) This article appeared on the Space Weather site (they bring together the monitoring of the sun and our surrounding space environment) a few days after the event. What's real curious is the description of how electricity plays a huge role in our planet. And how interested the current power companies are in this, proving that Nicola Tesla was right about using ground as the conductor.

"ROCKS AND SOIL ELECTRIFIED BY THE SUPERSTORM: Across the USA on May 10th and 11th, sky watchers marveled at bright displays of aurora borealis during the biggest geomagnetic storm in decades. Little did they know, something was also happening underfoot.
Strong electrical currents were surging through rocks and soil. The biggest voltages along the US eastern seaboard and in the Midwest were as much as 10,000 times normal. A map from NOAA and the US Geological Survey shows some of the 'hot spots' during the early hours of May 11th:

Back in March 1989, voltages only a little stronger than the ones shown above brought down the entire Hydro-Québec power system. The resulting Great Québec Blackout plunged millions of Canadians into darkness.

This time, however, power grids stayed up. "We haven't heard of any serious problems so far," reports Christopher Balch of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

Balch leads an effort at NOAA to model geoelectric fields during solar storms. The map, above, is a snapshot from a real-time display that takes into account the 3D conductivity of the Earth and ongoing geomagnetic activity. A computer at the Space Weather Prediction Center crunches the data to produce minute-by-minute estimates of electricity in the ground.

"I started working on this in 2011 after a NOAA Space Weather Workshop where representatives from the power industry asked for a geoelectric field model," recalls Balch. "It's a collaboration between NOAA, the US Geological Survey and others; we now have a version that covers much of Canada and the United States"

When researchers talk about geoelectric fields they use units of volts per km (V/km). Earth's crust naturally contains quiet-time fields measuring as little as 0.01 V/km. During geomagnetic storms, these values skyrocket.

"On May 10-11, geoelectric amplitudes exceeded 10 V/km in Virginia and 9 V/km in the upper Midwest," says Jeffrey Love, a key member of the collaboration at the USGS. "These are very high. For comparison, we estimate that geoelectric amplitudes reached almost 22 V/km in Virginia during the March 1989 storm."

This means the May 2024 storm was, electrically speaking, about half as intense as the storm that blacked out Québec 35 years ago. That's too close for comfort. "Although power companies have taken measures to improve the resilience of their systems, no one would welcome another storm as intense as that of March 1989," says Love.

Realtime electric field maps are published 24/7 on the NOAA website. During the next geomagnetic storm, click here to see what's happening underfoot!"